Hyderabad Hunters lifts Premier Badminton League season 3 trophy

In the summit clash of the Premier Badminton League season 3, the juggernaut Hyderabad Hunters overcame Bengaluru Blasters and emerged champions in the league at the Gachibowli Indoor Stadium on Sunday.

The youngster Satwiksairaj with Indonesia’s Pia Zebadiah Bernadeth of mixed doubles set up a supreme display in the last match of the clash to lift the trophy and winners purse of the Hunters.

Filled with housefull cheers in the stadium and vehement team, the duo defeated Kim Sa Rang and N Sikki Reddy with 15-11, 15-12; with Satwik’s row of powerful strokes, hometeam clinched the title.

The finals went as scripted with Bengaluru’s Viktor and Hyderabad’s Marin won their respective matches and made the score level with 3-3 after four matches.

Earlier, men’s doubles pair Mark Kido and Yeon Seong of Hunters lost the strode and failed to save first point of the night.

Blasters’ veteran shuttler Mathias Boe and Kim Sa Rang gave tough fight to the Hunters’ duo in the straight games. Kido, who was handling back court returns, couldn’t control well his powerful smashes and lost the flow.

Hunters’ came back strongly with their Trump player Lee Hyun II’s unblemished game. With his tranquility, Lee just has been unstoppable with his defense to beat Subhankar Dey with 2-0; the southpaw engaged his Dey into some long rallies and at the perfect time ended them with a shot for the point.

While, Subhankar is trying to learn Lee’s moves, the Korean led 4-2 and then with three points at the halftime with 8-5. Lee after catching the momentum took the opening game with 15-7.

The Korean fell behind at the start of the second game, making a few unforced errors at the net. However, rebounded from 0-2 and 1-4 down to jump into the lead by 6-4. He seemed to be rushing at 9-6 but his concentration wavered and he gave away a couple of easy points.

Subhankar took advantage of the lapses to catch him at 10-10. Lee Hyun inched ahead 12-10 but saw him by his side at 13-13 again. But he produced two winners to seal the game and match 15-13.

Viktor thrashed Praneeth and won his Trump match. He played with the dominance right from the beginning to win the third match of the finals with 15-5, 15-10 in front of the home fans, who had come to cheer their team.

The Bengaluru Blasters were 3-2 on points after three matches. But former World No. 1 Carolina Marin promptly regained the initiative for the Hunters, winning the Women's Singles match in the straight games against Gilmour.

With few hiccups in the midway during the match, Marin beat Gilmour with her deceptive excellence. The Spaniard won with 15-8, 15-14 and pushed the league to the decider match. Marin survived the scare before picking herself up at 11-9 in the second game.

Marin stayed calm later and led the clash with the win.

Check the video of the winning moments of Hyderabad Hunters.

Results:

Men’s Doubles: Mark Kido and Yoo Yeon Seong lost to M Boe and Kim Sa Rang with 9-15, 10-15

Men’s Singles: Lee Hyun II (T) beat Subhankar Dey with 15-7, 15-13

Men’s Singles: Sai Praneeth lost to Viktor Axelsen (T) with 8-15, 10-15

Women’s Singles: Carolina Marin beat Kirsty Gilmour with 15-8, 15-14