Three teams will be vying for the two available semifinal slots as the Premier Badminton League enters its business end with the last two league matches to be played at the Sree Kanteerava Indoor Stadium here on Wednesday.
Awadhe Warriors (17 points) and Delhi Acers (15) have already booked their semifinal berths and two among Chennai Smashers (13), Mumbai Rockets (13) and Bengaluru Topguns (8) will join them. The day’s first match will see Rockets take on Acers and will be followed by Smashers versus the city’s very own Topguns.
Bengaluru Topguns, in particular, is the most disadvantaged among the lot. Yet to win a single tie, it needs to have a near-perfect day to harbour any hope of progressing. A 5-0 win will fetch six points and take it through to the last-four. But, any other result might need head-to-head records and mathematical calculations to be taken into account.
Coach optimistic“We have only eight points but we are looking at it very positively,” said Bengaluru coach Arvind Bhat. “In fact if we had won one trump out of all these matches, we would have ended up on 11 and been in a comfortable position to make it to the semis.
“It’s just that one match that has made the difference. We hope that in the Chennai match we get that one extra game.”
What gives Bengaluru a faint hope is the fact that World No. 12 P.V. Sindhu, the star in the Chennai ranks, cannot be played as a trump for she has already been used twice (the permissible limit).
Taking her on will be the so-far impressive young Chinese Suo Di. Among the likelier of results is for Suo Di to lose but if her team manages to win the other four, it still has a chance.
“Out of the five we need to win four including our trumps,” said Bhat. “We do really hope Suo Di can play her best.
“She played three games against Saina [Nehwal] and we saw Sindhu play three against Han Li. And Suo Di is better than Han Li. We are hoping that the pressure will take its toll on Sindhu.”
On the other hand, Mumbai will be looking for a minimum of two points to assure itself of a semifinal spot.
A big loss for Mumbai coupled with an emphatic win for Bengaluru might lead to a scenario where all three teams will be tied on points.
