The third Premier Badminton League got off to an exciting start as Awadhe Warriors put behind the absence of their star player Saina Nehwal to upstage Chennai Superstarz 4-3 on points at the Karmabir Nabin Chandra Bordoloi Indoor Stadium here on Saturday.

Awadhe won both their men's singles and mixed doubles to take an unassailable 3-0 lead but Chennai,  spearheaded by their superstar PV Sindhu, fought back to win the men’s doubles and the women’s singles to reduce the margin in the five-match duel.

While Awadhe claimed four points from the opener, Chennai too had it good netting three points as Sindhu downed Sai Uttejitha Rao 15-10, 15-9. As Chennai had listed it as their Trump match, they gained two points from it. Before Sindhu signed off in style, their doubles pair of Chris Adcock and Lee Yang ended their losing streak by defeating Hendra Setiawan and OR Chin Chung 15-10, 11-15, 15-10.

While admitting they have some catching up to, Sindhu said the last two wins helped them overcome the earlier setbacks. “We kept losing at the start but finished off well. We have to come back strongly in the next game,” she added.

Earlier, Awadhe’s Kidambi Srikanth downed Frenchman Brice Leverdez 15-12, 15-14 to build upon the successes of Parupalli Kashyap and the mixed doubles pair of Christinna Pedersen and Tang Chun Man.

The resilient Frenchman stretched the World No3 Srikanth in both the games but the Indian closed out the second via sudden death after they were tied 14-all.

Kashyap felt it was a good outing for the teams. “It was not a bad match for Chennai. To go along with an average of three points is good enough in the league. Two points or lower makes it difficult to catch up in the end,” he said.

Kashyap won his singles against Daniel S Farid 15-12, 15-8 to give them an additional advantage as Awadhe had ticked this encounter as their Trump Match. The victory gave them two points as against the usual one point for a win.

Kashyap dominated the encounter and sealed the contest in straight games, which helped Awadhe swell their points tally to three.

Earlier, Christinna and Tang provided an ideal start to Awadhe’s campaign by shocking fancied English couple Chris and Gabrielle Adcock 10-15, 15-5, 15-12. The world No9 Adcocks started off well by pocketing the first game but the Danish girl Christinna and Hong Kong's Tang fought back brilliantly to turn the tables on the English pair.

Their successes were roundly cheered by Saina from the bench after she was ruled out with an ankle niggle from the high-voltage meeting against Sindhu.

Awadhe coach Anup Sridhar, however, was hopeful Saina will turn out at the Siri Fort Sports Complex in New Delhi for their second match against North East Warriors on December 30.

Sridhar, who alongwith Siyadath Ullah are part of the Awadhe coaching setup, said in a statement: “Saina is recovering from a small ankle issue which she had developed few weeks back. She is recovering well and we are expecting her to be fully fit for the next match.”

The Saina-Sindhu meeting cannot be ruled out completely as both teams can still face off in the semi-final or final.

Sindhu was surprised Saina pulled out. “I thought she will play,”, she said. “But we can’t do anything about it.”

Saina’s teammate Kashyap, however, sounded upbeat on her return in their next game. “She's just started training. She will be good for the next match,” he said

A colourful opening ceremony earlier featuring Assamese folk dancers, local sensation and Bollywood singer Zubeen Garg and the famous Shillong Choir, provided a rousing start to the third edition of the Premier Badminton League. Assam chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal lit the traditional lamp and inagurated the event.

Marin's Hunters wary of NE Warriors (Preview for Tomorrow)

Hyderabad Hunters are not willing to take debutants North East Warriors lightly in their opening Premier Badminton League match on Sunday.

Spanish superstar Carolina Marin spearheads the Hunters campaign and the Olympic champion is keen on improving upon their last season's top-four finish. "I'm looking forward to our first match against the North East Warriors. We are keen to do better than last season, although it will not be easy as the competition is very tough," said the former world No1 on Saturday.

The 24-year-old is aware that her team will be looking to her for inspiration and she is confident of delivering the goods. "I will try to get maximum points and help my team," she said.
Hyderabad Hunters' coach Fernando Rivas has set the goals higher this season. "We have prepared the best possible way to get a better position this year," he said. "Ever since the season ended last year, we were keen to come back to the PBL because it is the most exciting competition we play, so we are looking forward to start tomorrow," he added.

The Spaniard, who has a coaching experience of 13 years and has been responsible in shaping up Marin's career, is quite impressed at the manner in which PBL is developing the Indian players, particulary the 17-year-old Satwiksairaj Rankireddy, who has shown remarkable improvement since the last PBL season.

 "The Indian players have come up really well since the PBL started. Satwik has developed a lot in the last season. I'm confident he will reach the top level," he added.

The Hunters men's singles campaign will be led by Sai Praneeth and Korean veteran Lee while Satwiksairaj and Yoo Yeon of Korea are a formidable doubles pair.

The spotlight may be on Hyderabad Hunters on Sunday but the North East Warriors are eager to put up a strong display in front of their home fans.

Their men's singles charge is led by Tzu Wei Wang of Chinese Taipei and Ajay Jayaram, who has featured in two finals turning out for Delhi and Mumbai teams in the past. Canadian Michelle Li in women's singles also has the potential to pull off a few surprises. Jayaram is confident of the North East Warriors putting up a good show this season.

"We are a new team but that will not come in the way of our performances. We know there will be no easy matches and we are prepared for it," he said on the eve of their first match. "The confidence level is quite high and we are ready to take on the Hyderabad Hunters," he added.

The Premier Badminton League is held under the aegis of the Badminton Association of India and is organised by Sportzlive, the official licensee partner of the league. It has already acquired the tag of being one of the richest badminton leagues with the teams battling for a total prize money of INR 6 crore.

The matches will be telecast on Star Sports HD 1 and Star Sports 1 from 7 PM onwards and streamed live on Hot Star. Tickets will be available on BookmyShow.

 KEY HIGHLIGHTS OF THE LEAGUE

• 8 current World Championship medalists
• 9 Olympic Medalists (including three multiple medal winners)
• World No. 1 in both Men's singles and Women's singles
• Prize Money: INR 6 Cr
• Duration of tournament: 23 days
• High footfall and stadium attendance Last year gate revenue was close to  1.4 cr.

SUNDAY’S FIXTURE: North East Warriors vs Hyderabad Hunters

THE SQUADS

Hyderabad Hunters: Men's singles: Lee Hyun il (Kor), Sai Praneeth, Rahul Yadav. Women's singles: Carolina Marin (Esp), Rasika Raje. Men's doubles: Lu Ching Yao (Tpe), Satwiksairaj Rankireddy, Yoo Yeon Seong (Kor),Pratul, Rahul Yadav. Women's doubles: Pia Zebadiah (Idn), Anoushka Parikh. Coach: Fernando Rivas

North East Warriors: Men's singles: Ajay Jayaram, Pratul Joshi, Tzu Wei Wang (Tpe). Women's singles: Michelle Li (Can), Ruthvika Shivani. Men's doubles: Chiraag Shetty, Shin Baek Cheol (Kor), Kim Gi Jung (Kor), Pratul Joshi. Women's doubles: Prajakta Sawant, Sanyogita Ghorpade. Coach – Nikhil Kanetkar

About Premier Badminton League Season 3

The Premier Badminton League Season 3, is the world’s richest prize money badminton tournament offering a prize of INR 6 Cr. The league is conducted bySportzLive, licensee partners of PBL and is organised under the aegis of Badminton Association of India (BAI), led by President Dr.Himanta Biswa Sarma. The league kick starts from December 23^nd 2017-January 14^th 2018 and will see 8 teams; Delhi Dashers, Mumbai Rockets, Hyderabad Hunters, Awadhe Warriors, Chennai Superstarz, Bengaluru Blasters, Ahmedabad Smash Masters and North Eastern Warriors battle out in across 5 different locations of India including Guwahati, Delhi, Lucknow, Chennai and Hyderabad. Matches will be telecasted live on Star Sports Network and online streaming will be done on Hotstar.com.