Premier Badminton League (PBL): Hyderabad Hunters’ PV Sindhu beats Carolina Marin giving team a winning start

Defending champions Hyderabad Hunters made a winning start at the Premier Badminton League (PBL) season 4 as their star player PV Sindhu came from a game down to beat Carolina Marin of debutants Pune 7 Aces on Saturday.

The Hunters crushed Tapsee Pannu's team 6-(-1) as they won all the five matches. They had taken the lead even before the dynamic shuttlers took to court.

Marin had taken lead in the first game 15-11 while Sindhu won the second 15-8. In the final game, at 13-13, Sindhu took two straight points to win the match.

Pune did come in for a surprise with their junior world championship bronze medalist Lakshya Sen.

The 18-year-old for the opening men's singles tie almost pulled off an upset against world number 35 Mark Caljouw.

The youngster showcased solid defence but Caljouw got the upper hand as he bagged the first point for Hunters 10-15, 15-12, 15-14.

During the final match of the day, Kim Sa Rang and Eom Hye Won defeated Vladimir Ivanov and Line Hojmark Kjaersfeldt 15-14, 15-11 to seal the tie for Hyderabad.

Team skipper Mathias Boe and Chirag Shetty gave hope to their team by winning the opening game but they could not maintain momentum and lost 13-15, 15-10, 15-10 against Kim Sa Rang and Bodin Isara.

The experienced Lee Hyun Il later wrapped up the tie for the Hunters defeating Brice Leverdez 15-14, 15-12 in a one-sided match.