PBL: Bengaluru hand Mumbai a lesson

LUCKNOW: It proved to be a disappointing new year for Mumbai Rockets as Bengaluru Blasters smashed their way past them to make it to the top of the points table in the Premier Badminton League on Monday.
Getting off the blocks in a jiffy, Bengaluru whitewashed Mumbai 7-0 at the BBD Badminton Academy. After the mixed doubles’ pair of Kim Sa Rang and Sikki Reddy provided Bengaluru the perfect start, downing MR Arjun and Gabriela Stoeva, it was Kirsty Gilmour turn to pocket the women’s singles against Beiwen Zhang. Viktor Axelsen overcame some anxious moments in the second game to settle the issue by winning their Trump match.
And then came the crucial game which settled the tie in favour of Bengaluru — Sameer Verma faulted against Chong Wei Feng in a Trump game.
Starting well with some sharp cross-court smashes, the Indian romped home at nine in the opening game. But Chong fought hard in the second to level the scores.
Sameer, who had overcome Chong on way to winning the Syed Modi Grand Prix Gold title at the same venue last year, crumbled in the deciding game. As Chong led 8-6 at the change-over in the decider, a string of unforced errors meant that the Malaysian simply walked away with the match with Sameer remaining struck on six points.