23 August,2013 12:27 AM IST | | IANS
Hyderabad Hotshots defeated the Mumbai Masters 3-2 in the Indian Badminton League (IBL) tie to top the points table at the Shree Shiv Chhatrapati Sports Complex here yesterday. By winning the tie, the Hotshots bagged four points and lead the standings with 15 while the Masters, who got only two points, are still second with 13.
Hyderabad Hotshots' Saina Nehwal
In the first match, Hotshots' Ajay Jayaram put up a fantastic fight against World No 1 Lee Chong Wei of the Masters but eventually went down 19-21, 21-21, 5-11 in the men's singles.
In the first game, Jayaram took off well and used his smashes to good effect. The Indian gave the Masters icon player a tough fight but unforced errors made life easy for Chong Wei. Jayaram was leading 17-15 but a couple of more errors helped the Malaysian pocket the first game.
The Mumbai lad came back into the match by winning the second game and pushed the match into the decider. However, Chong Wei bagged the third and with it the match.
In the women's singles, World No 4 Saina Nehwal eased past PC Thulasi 21-7, 21-10 to make it 1-1. In the men's doubles, Hotshots' Shem Goh and Wah Lim beat Sumeet Reddy and Manu Attri in a tough 11-21, 21-16, 11-9 match to get ahead 2-1.
Then, Tanongsak overcame Marc Zwiebler of the Masters 21-19, 17-21, 11-6 in the second men's singles to win the tie 3-1 for the Hotshots 3-1. In the dead mixed doubles rubber, Mumbai's N Siki Reddy and Vladimir Ivanov beat Tarun Kona and Pradnya Gadre 21-18, 21-19.
