World No 1 Viktor Axelsen of Denmark and Malaysia’s Chong Wei Feng registered thrilling wins as Bengaluru Blasters whitewashed Mumbai Rockets in the Vodafone Premier Badminton League at the BBD UPBA in Lucknow on Monday.
Axelsen, in the first trump match, swept aside a strong challenge from world No 5 Son Wan Ho of Korea to beat him 15-6, 15-13. In the second, Chong Wei Feng came back from a game down to beat Mumbai’s Sameer Verma 9-15, 15-8, 15-6. The victories helped Bengaluru score six and condemned the Rockets to a score of -1 in the match.
Sameer, with ease, won the opening game but the Malaysian came back strong to win the next two.
In the first men’s singles of the tie, world champion Axelsen came into the match with his side leading 2-0. Axelsen steamrolled Wan Ho, who looked out of sorts in the first game. The Korean put up a better display in the second but it wasn’t enough to beat the Dane, who sealed the match with a towering smash.
“I have played against him a lot of times and know that he can come back anytime,” Axelsen said. “Everyone saw the way he came back in the second game and it was very crucial for me to stay focussed throughout. I am happy to have pulled it off and put my team in the driving seat.”
In the final match, the men’s doubles pair of Mathias Boe and Kim Sa Rang came back from a game down to beat Lee Yong Dae and Tan Boon Heong 9-15,15-11, 15-14 to help Bengaluru register the first clean sweep of the season.
In the second match of the day, world No 16 Kirsty Gilmour extended Bengaluru’s lead after she got the better of the USA’s Beiwen Zhang, ranked 11th in the world, 15-14, 15-8.
The US shuttler won four points on the trot. The Scot tried to crawl back into the game but Zhang went into the interval 8-5. She was cruising at 11-6, when Gilmour showed great resilience to win the game. The Scot was unstoppable in the second game winning it 15-8.
In the opening match of the tie, Bengaluru’s mixed doubles pair of Sikki Reddy and Kim Sa Rang beat the Mumbai duo of MR Arjun and Gabriela Stoeva 15-8, 10-15, 15-10 to give Bengaluru a 1-0 lead.
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