Srikanth downs Sugiarto

Wins for Kidambi Srikanth and Vu Thi Thrang ensured that Bengaluru Raptors beat Delhi Dashers 2-1 after they split the opening two Trump matches in the Vodafone PBL at ‘The Arena by SE TransStadia’ here on Wednesday.

Over the last four years India’s Srikanth and Indonesia’s Tommy Sugiarto have engaged in pulsating contests. Their intense rivalry once again came to the fore in the second men’s singles match. After a tussle the Raptors captain, Srikanth came through in three games.

Both Srikanth and Sugiarto are top 10 ranked players, and as the first two well contested games indicated, there was not much of a qualitative difference in their display of style or skill. They brought their full repertoire into play, with the jump smash and other crafty shots winning them points.

Eventually Srikanth lifted his game up a notch to take the third game and the match to put his team ahead in the tie.

Srikanth blended his powerful smash and soft hand skills to convert the 8-4 lead at the break into a decisive winning score at 15-10. Srikanth won a short rally with a smash to bring an end to the contest.

The results:Bengaluru Raptors bt Delhi Dashers 2-1: B. Sai Praneeth bt H.S. Prannoy ( T ) 15-3, 14-15, 15-13; Marcus Ellis and Lauren Smith ( T ) lost to Maneepong Jongjit and Evgeniya Kosetskaya 3-15, 9-15; K. Srikanth bt Tommy Sugiarto 15-6, 12-15, 15-10; Vu Thi Thrang bt Chia Hsin Lee 12-15, 15-3, 15-8; Mohammad Ahsan and Hendra Setiawan lost to Biao Chai and Maneepong Jongjit 7-15, 15-11, 14-15.