BENGALURU: The fourth season of the Premier Badminton League ended with a thrilling finale in the city on Sunday in which the home side and debutants Bengaluru Raptors edged out Mumbai Rockets 4-3. Owned by Matrix Badminton Private Limited and captained by Indian star Kidambi Srikanth, the Raptors displayed a fine example of teamwork rather than individual merit holding greater weightage.
Srikanth led from the front with a dominating 15-7, 15-10 win against World No.18 Anders Antonsen. Indonesia’s former world champion doubles pair, Hendra Setiawan and Mohammad Ahsan made a huge difference for their side too with a 15-13, 15-10 win over Mumbai’s Korean pair of Lee Yong Dae and Kim Gi Jung.
Mumbai remained in the hunt following World No. 12 Sameer Verma’s pulsating 7-15, 15-12, 15-3 win over Sai Praneeth. The duo of Gi Jung and Pia Zebediah won their mixed doubles encounter against Bengaluru’s Marcus Ellis and Lauren Smith, 15-8, 15-14.
However, World No.59 from Vietnam, Vu Thi Trang prevailed in the Trump match of the contest, defeating Shreyanshi Pardeshi 15-8, 15-9.
With this performance, the PBL continues to see different champions each season as Delhi Dashers (2016), Hyderabad Hunters (2017) and Chennai Smashers (2018) have been previous winners.
