Mumbai Masters and Banga Beats were locked 2-2 after the fourth match of their tie in the Indian Badminton League (IBL) at the Siri Fort Sports Complex here on Thursday.
At the time of going to press, the two teams were engaged in the last mixed doubles match to ascertain the winner.
Banga Beats got a shock when 14th ranked Olympian P. Kashyap was stunned by Vladimir Ivanov in the opening men’s singles engagement.
Kashyap, one of the well known players in Indian badminton, started well to take a 7-2 lead. But the 41st-ranked player resorted to his power and speed to surpass Kashyap and stay 14-12 up at the second break.
Kashyap got his act together in the next game and played some good smashes to maintain a lead for most part. When one thought that the 27-year-old Indian might be able to equalise and stretch it to the decider, Kashyap committed some judgement errors and paid the price for it.
Ivanov closed the gap to 15-17 with a powerful smash. Kashyap found the net to help his opponent further. Ivanov’s last three points also came through Kashyap’s unforced errors and the Russian recruit of Mumbai Masters pumped his fist vigorously after causing a big upset.
Chinese Taipei’s Ying Tai Tzu made up for Kashyap’s loss as she beat 11th ranked Tine Baun of Denmark in straight games. In a match involving high tosses and long rallies, eighth-ranked Ying showed her command over the slow and grinding style of badminton.
Ying forced Tine to commit several mistakes as she took the first game with a three point margin. The story continued in the same manner in the second game as well, and Tzu controlled some nervous moments late in the match to emerge unscathed. She dropped the shuttle to Tine’s right to pull off a fine victory.
Akshay Dewalkar bloomed in the company of world No. 3 doubles player Carston Mogensen and the pair banked on its speed and precision to cruise to victory against the Indian duo of Pranav Chopra and Manu Attri. Banga Beats went 2-1 up with that win.
Marc Zweibler, ranked 12th in the world, beat eighth ranked Hu Yun in a keen contest to draw parity and make the third tie in a row to be decided with the last mixed doubles encounter.
The results: Vladimir Ivanov bt P. Kashyap 21-18, 21-18; Tine Baun lost to Ying Tai Tzu 17-21, 18-21; Carston Mogensen & Akshay Dewalkar bt Pranav Chopra & Manu Attri 21-13, 21-12; Marc Zweibler bt Hu Yun 17-21, 21-17, 11-6.
