Mumbai, however, will be banking on the outcome of the tie between Bengaluru Top Guns and Chennai Smashers. If Bengaluru fails to get five points, Mumbai will qualify for the semifinals.
Rajiv Ouseph won the trump match as Delhi Acers pulled off a 4-1 win against Mumbai Rockets in a Premier Badminton League tie played at the Kanteerava Indoor Stadium in Bengaluru on Wednesday. With the win, Delhi became the table toppers with 20 points ahead of Awadhe Warriors, who are on 17 points. Both teams have qualified for the semifinals.
Mumbai, however, will be banking on the outcome of the tie between Bengaluru Top Guns and Chennai Smashers. If Bengaluru fails to get five points, Mumbai will qualify for the semifinals.
Rajiv beat his rival R M V Gurusaidutt comfortably 15-7, 15-10 in the fifth match of the tie. P C Thulasi denied trump match for Mumbai's Ruthvika Gade as the match helped Delhi to bounce back after their mixed doubles pair Akshay Dewalkar and Aparna Balan lost to Kamilla Juhl and Vladimir Ivanov 13-15, 11-15.
Thulasi, in an exciting encounter, beat Ruthvika 15-11, 8-15, and 15-13. "This is a confidence booster win for our team, it was a Trump match for Mumbai and after winning the first set I lost focus in the 2nd and paid the price. Luckily I held my nerves in the third and managed to win a vital point for our team," she said.
Thulasi had a close win 15-11 in the first game, but her Mumbai rival came back strongly to take the second game 15-8. Thulasi, however, kept her nerves in the see-saw battle and claimed the decider 15-13 after Ruthvika faltered by smashing the shuttle long.
After losing the trump match, it was left to H S Prannoy to bring the team back into the tie, but failed to live up to the expectation of the team management as he was undone by great grit displayed by Tommy Sugiarto, who secured 15-8, 15-6 win.
The first game was a close-knit battle as Sugiarto was leading 10-8, but the Indonesian player dominated the court and bagged the game 15-8. Sugiarto was a in a destructive mood with gaining an early lead 5-3 in the second game and maintained it at the interval at 8-3. Putting up a world class show before the cheering fans, the Indonesian star outsmarted Prannoy 15-6 to give Delhi an overall lead 2-0 their last league tie.
Vladimir Ivanov and Mathias Boe of Mumbai dominated the proceedings from the word go and kept the lead until the last moment, winning the first game 15-11. Mumbai were denied a straight set victory by Koo keat Kien and Tan Boon Heong, who clinched the second game 15-12, pushing the match to the decider in an exciting encounter. The Delhi pair maintained their winning tempo and claimed the decider 15-10 in their favour by trouncing the Mumbai pair, who looked out of sorts after pocketing the first game.
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