Helped by sprightly performances from Loh Kean Yew and the doubles duo of Chirag Shetty and Hendra Setiawan, Pune 7 Aces ensured a winning start to its campaign against Mumbai Rockets in the Premier Badminton League here on Saturday.
The sharp Yew beat P. Kashyap 15-7, 15-14, unsettling him with his quick reflexes. The Aces had been leading 2-0 before this contest, and Kashyap’s upset served as the final nail in the coffin.
The contest had been set up by a win in three games by Chirag and Setiawan, who combined well to post a comeback win over the South Korean pair of Kim Gi Jung and Kim Sa Rang. Chirag and Setiawan led early in the first game but lost momentum soon after to go down 15-14.
“The first set we tried to keep the shuttle low and we were able to do that and we led 10-5 in the first game. Unfortunately, we lost the momentum from there and they came close,” Chirag told Sportstar.
But they didn’t allow their opponents to settle into a rhythm in the next two games. Chirag manned the backcourt, a role different from usual as he plays on the front with Satwiksairaj Rankireddy, his regular doubles partner. By the end of the third game, they were regularly winning points via the smash. Eventually, they won 14-15, 15-5, 15-6.
With her assured, all-around play, Rituparna Das doubled Pune’s lead with a win in three games over Shreyanshi Pardeshi. Pardeshi put up a spirited performance but in the end proved second-best to a sharper opponent.
She retrieved well early on and managed deft touches at the net to win a number of points, but Rituparna was more in her element in the second and third games; her attacking play was more effective. Commenting on the contest, Rituparna said: “The strategy was to push her back and make her move, to push her back and then to hit a cross-court smash.”
Rockets, however, made it 4-2 with Lee Dong Keun’s 15-7, 15-13 win over Kazumasa Sakai.
