![\"Hyderabad](\"https:\/\/indiansportsnews.co.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/Hyderabad-Hunters.jpg\")
New Delhi: Hyderabad Hunters booked their place in the semi-finals of the ongoing Premier Badminton League (PBL) by defeating defending champions Delhi Acers 5-2 at the Siri Fort Stadium, here on Thursday.<\/p>\nNew Delhi: Hyderabad Hunters booked their place in the semi-finals of the ongoing Premier Badminton League (PBL) by defeating defending champions Delhi Acers 5-2 at the Siri Fort Stadium, here on Thursday.<\/p>\n
It was a do and die tie for Hyderabad as a loss would have seen Bengaluru Blasters enter the last four stage in their stead.<\/p>\n
Awadh Warriors, Chennai Smashers and Mumbai Rockets had already booked their berths in the semi-finals.<\/p>\n
It was the culmination of a rather dismal campaign for Delhi who ended the league stage with a single win to their name.<\/p>\n
Men’s singles star Jan Jorgensen was the only bright spot for the hosts as he won his trump match to give the rather sparse home crowd a fleeting hope of a Delhi fightback.<\/p>\n
Samir Varma ensured a solid start for Hyderabad by edging out Siril Varma 8-11, 11-3, 11-2 in a hard-fought encounter.<\/p>\n
Sameer struggled a bit in the opening game before completely dominating the next two games despite some excellent placements by his opponent.<\/p>\n
The mixed doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Hoi Wah Chau extended Hyderabad’s lead by defeating the Delhi mixed doubles combination of Jwala Gutta and Vladimir Ivanov by straight games.<\/p>\n
The 17-year-old Satwiksairaj displayed impressive power and athleticism. He troubled the Delhi players with his powerful smashes and excellent court coverage as Hyderabad took the game 11-3, 11-4.<\/p>\n
The Hyderabad pair conceded the first point before fighting back to take a lead.<\/p>\n
The Hyderabad duo equalised at 3-3 but Jwala put her shot into the net to hand the lead to Delhi once again.<\/p>\n
Chau and Sairaj extended the lead to go into the mid-game break at 6-3.<\/p>\n
The Delhi shuttlers continued their domination after the break and did not concede any point after the break to take the opening game at 11-3.<\/p>\n
The dominated the second game as well and opened up a 6-2 lead at the break. Jwala and Ivanov were no match for the Delhi pair who sealed second game at 11-4 to wrap up the match.<\/p>\n
With Delhi trailing 2-0, Denmark star Jan Jorgensen brought the hosts back on level terms with an 11-5, 11-7 victory over Rajiv Ouseph in a rather one-sided men’s singles contest which was also a trump match.<\/p>\n
Jorgensen took five consecutive points in the opening game before he put one into the net to hand Rajiv his first point.<\/p>\n
With a formidable 6-2 lead at the break, the former European champion took the first game 11-5 without breaking much sweat.<\/p>\n
Rajiv produced a much better fight in the second game with some excellent placements and subtle changes in speed.<\/p>\n
But Jorgensen managed to hold off the Delhi shuttler’s challenge to take the game 11-7.<\/p>\n
Reigning Olympic champion Carolina Marin handed the lead back to the visitors with a hard-fought 15-14, 11-4 verdict over Delhi’s Nitchaon Jindapol in the women’s singles contest which was the other trump match of the tie.<\/p>\n
The opening rally witnessed an incredible 34 shots before Marin drew first blood.<\/p>\n
Trailing 1-6 early on, Jindapol fought back to draw level at 8-8 before clinching the lead with some superb placement.<\/p>\n
The Olympic champion leveled the scores at 10-10. The Delhi shuttler regained the advantage with a powerful smash before another exhausting rally saw her lead by 13-12.<\/p>\n
Jindapol then put her attempt into the net to hand the momentum to Marin who went on to take the game 15-14.<\/p>\n
Having forced the advantage, Marin dominated the second game to grab a well-deserved vicrory.<\/p>\n
The men’s doubles duo of Tan Boon Heong and Tan Wee Kiong rounded off an excellent performance from Hyderabad with an 11-9, 13-11 over the Delhi combination of Ivanov and Ivan Sozonov.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
New Delhi: Hyderabad Hunters booked their place in the semi-finals of the ongoing Premier Badminton League (PBL) by defeating defending champions Delhi Acers 5-2 at the Siri Fort Stadium, here on Thursday.<\/p>\n
It was a do and die tie for Hyderabad as a loss would have seen Bengaluru Blasters enter the last four stage in their stead.<\/p>\n
Awadh Warriors, Chennai Smashers and Mumbai Rockets had already booked their berths in the semi-finals.<\/p>\n
It was the culmination of a rather dismal campaign for Delhi who ended the league stage with a single win to their name.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":31954,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[11264,20441,12887,12886,466],"class_list":["post-31955","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-badminton-badminton","tag-badminton-news","tag-badminton-premier-league","tag-delhi-acers","tag-hyderabad-hunters","tag-indian-sports-news"],"yoast_head":"\n