PBL: Saina wins to give Warriors advantage against Acers

Lucknow, Jan 5 (IANS) Ace Indian shuttler Saina Nehwal defeated Nitchaon Jindapol of Delhi Acers in the second edition of the Premier Badminton League at the Babu Banarasi Das Indoor Stadium here on Thursday.

The 26-year-old Awadhe Warriors player outplayed Nitchaon 14-12, 11-7 in a trump match to register her first win of the league and helped the Warriors take advantage over the Acers. 

With the win, Saina has extended her unbeaten run to eight games against the Thai shuttler.

Playing in the second match of the tie, Saina was slow to start as Nitchaon dominated the opening moments of the game taking a 5-2 lead. 

The Hyderabadi shuttler, however, after initial hiccups recovered well and won a few crucial points to tie the scoreboard 6-6. 

She then took two more points and with the scoreboard looking 8-6, it seemed like Saina was just about to break away. But Nitchaon did not let her opponent off the hook and soon found her serving for the game. 

However, she faltered and Saina took advantage to save the game. It was turning out to be a great battle with both the players not giving anything to each other but it was Saina who finally prevailed winning the first game 14-12.

In the second game, the Indian shuttler was slow to start again and Nitchaon took a crucial 3-0 lead at the start, but Saina slowly began to come into her element.

She started to move better than the first game and as the match progressed she just grew into the match playing some exquisite shots which Nitchaon did not have any answers to. 

Nitchaon put up a spirited show but Saina prevailed eventually to win the game 11-7. The win not only saw Warriors win both their matches in the tie, but also gave them an extra point as it was a trump match for them.