PBL 3 Tie 19: Dashers ousted North Eastern Warriors to march into Semis

Delhi Dashers marched into the knock-out stage by defeating North Eastern Warriors in the first match of the Hyderabad-leg at the Gachibowli Stadium on Wednesday.

Winning the Trump match along with two other matches, Dashers made their total points to 15 and stood third in the standings, besides, Warriors after winning two matches, could add only one point to their pocket and finished the run in the league with 12 points.

Tian Houwei took Delhi forward with his amazing comeback in the second game against Tzu Wei Wang before winning 10-15, 15-8, 11-15. The World No. 22 Chinese went down with 2-8 in the final game and rebounded to take the match with 15-11 to upset the World no. 11 with the big jolt, as it was their first trump match loss of the season and ended with the negative point.

Followed by winning the team Trump, Sung Ji Hyun extended Delhi’s victory over Michelle Li with 13-15, 15-11, 15-13. Sung Ji, The World No. 3 was the favourite to win but the Canadian almost caused an upset with her fighting display.

Earlier in the first match of the Tie, Michelle and Shin Baek Cheol gave the boosting start to the Warriors by winning the mixed doubles match against the Delhi duo Ashwini Ponnappa and Vladimir Ivanov in straight games with 15-13, 15-11.

It was no longer the lead  for the Warriors as Wing Ki Wong Vincent helped Dshers to level the score by winning over Ajay Jayaram with 15-13, 10-15, 15-12.

The World No. 15 started off well by clinching a tight first game 15-13 only to find the Indian stage a fightback in the second with a combination of deft placements and effective smashes. Ajay, ranked 38 in the World pocketed the second game 15-12. The third game was evenly poised at 8-7 in favour of the 27-year-old of Dashers and he went on to consolidate it by surging ahead to a 12-8 lead.

Vincent was more than contented with his win that he cavorted around the court after his last match point win.

In the final match of the Tie, men’s doubles pair Kim Gi Jung and Shin Baek Choel defeated  Ivan Sozonov and Vladmir Ivanov with 9-15, 15-10, 15-9, to add final point and enrouted the Dashers to the semi-finals.