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The one clear dominating team of the Premier Badminton League Season 5 has most definitely been the Chennai Superstarz who have topped the rankings list since Day 1. Overcoming the challenge posed by the Awadhe Warriors narrowly, the Chennai Superstarz have booked their spot in the semifinals and has an awe-worthy 19 points on the board. They defeated the Awadhe Warriors in 3-4. Earlier in the day, the North Eastern Warriors had also similarly won their place in the last four as they have also notched 18 points to their credit.
The opening tie of the day saw talented youngster Lakshya Sen taking on Subhankar Dey from the Awadhe Warriors side. Sen has been consistently good this season and was relentless against Dey who struggled with his forehands. Sen did not waste any time and rushed to clinching victory in straight games, 15-7, 15-8.
The following rubber of the day, saw the duo of Ko-Sung Hyun and Ivan Sozonov from the Awadhe Warriors side taking on Dhruv Kapila and an overworked, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy in the Men's Doubles clash. With a former World Championships gold medalist on their half, the Awadhe Warriors ensured that they did not let the Trump Match slip by as they convincingly won 12-15, 15-11, 15-10.
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Sugiarto shines
For Chennai, it was experienced shuttler Tommy Sugiarto who shouldered the responsibility of playing the Trump Match against Wong Wing Ki Vincent. Sugiarto produced a faultless performance and cruised to a swift win against Vincent, 15-10, 15-8.
Sadly enough, Pullela Gopichand's daughter, Gayathri has not been able to win a single match on her debut PBL season as she once against lost to Awadhe Warrior's 29-year-old Beiwen Zhang. Gayathri failed to match the shots of the experienced shuttler as she attacked the youngster with her immense range of shots which led to her swift defeat in 15-10, 15-5.
In the final encounter of the day, Ko-Sung Hyun and Christinna Pedersen came from the side of the Awadhe Warriors in an all-important Mixed Doubles match. The duo went up against Satwik Sairaj Rankireddy and Jessica Pugh, who took matters in their own hands and embarked on a mission to seal the victory. Both Rankireddy and Pugh were forced to play three games in a nail-biting clash. The Indo-English player won the match, 15-11, 13-15, 15-14 to sneak home after a very heated match. With that, the Chennai Superstarz picked up 19 points on the board so far and has booked their spot at the semifinals of PBL Season 5 already.
