Mumbai Rockets recovered from an early loss to power past Awadhe Warriors in the Premier Badminton League on Monday. Anders Antonsen and Sameer Verma notched up hard-earned victories for the winner.
Awadhe fielded Shreyanshi Pardeshi in the opening women’s singles against Beiwen Zhang, and the match went according to script. The China-born, Singapore-groomed player, representing USA, swatted everything in her range to ease past her rival. Mumbai banked on the men’s doubles pair of Kim Gi Sung and Lee Yong Dae for Trump Match points and the lethal Koreans hammered the Taipei-India duo of Yang Lee and M.R. Arjun into submission.
Antonsen, 21, lifted his game midway through the second game to beat Son Wan Ho in three.
Lee Dong Keun is a tough opponent, even for a highly-ranked Sameer Verma.
The smooth-moving Korean covered the court effortlessly and sent his Indian rival scrambling to the corners.
Losing the first game did not hold the Awadhe player back from going all-out and drawing level. The two were at their sharpest in the third before Sameer won.
The results:
Mumbai Rockets bt Awadhe Warriors 5-2 (Shreyanshi Pardeshi lost to (T) Beiwen Zhang 10-15, 10-15; (T)-Kim Gi Jung & Lee Yong Dae bt Yang Lee & M R Arjun 15-7, 15-9; Anders Antonsen bt Son Wan Ho 6-15, 15-11, 15-14; Sameer Verma bt Lee Dong Keun 14-11, 8-15, 15-11; Kim Gi Jung & Pia Bernadeth bt Marcus Christiansen & Ashwini Ponnappa 15-10, 7-15, 15-13).
