Hyderabad: Bengaluru Raptors take on North Eastern Warriors in the finals of the 2020 Premier Badminton League that will be played at the Gachibowli Indoor Stadium here on Saturday.
This is North Eastern Warriors' maiden entry into the final of the Premier Badminton League (PBL) after they outclassed Chennai Superstarz 3- (-1) scoreline in the first semifinal. Meanwhile defending champion Bengaluru Raptors recorded a thrilling 4-3 win over Pune 7 Aces in the second semifinal of Premier Badminton League (PBL) season five to progress to the final of the competition.
Interestingly, both the finalists were table toppers with 22 points in 30 matches.
Riding on the solid performance of Lee Cheuk Yiu and then the men’s doubles combine of Bodin Isara and Krishna Prasad Garaga, Warriors progressed to the finals.
In the opening tie of the semi-final match which was a mixed doubles encounter, the Warriors were off to a winning start with Lee Yong Dae and Kim Ha Na scoring a thrilling 15-12, 9-15, 15-14 win over B. Sumeeth Reddy and Jessica Pugh.
Then, in the men’s singles, world No. 18 Lee Cheuk Yiu of Warriors defeated world No. 21 Tommy Sugiarto 15-12, 15-12 in a closely fought match. Warriors duo of Bodin Isara and Krishna Prasad Garaga then defeated B. Sumeeth Reddy and Dhruv Kapila 15-13, 14-15, 15-10 to help North Eastern Warriors progress to the finals.
On the other hand, the mixed doubles pair of Chan Peng Soon and Eom Hye Won clinched the deciding match against Chris Adcock and Gabrielle Adcock to help defending champion Bengaluru Raptors record a thrilling 4-3 win over Pune 7 Aces in the second semi-final.
In the opening tie of the second semi-final which was a men's doubles match, Hendra Setiawan and Chirag Shetty of Pune 7 Aces outplayed Arun George and Rian Agung Saputro 12-15, 10-15.
In the men’s singles match, Brice Leverdez of Raptors brought his side back into the game after warding off a spirited challenge from 21-year-old Mithun Manjunath 15-14, 9-15, 15-6. Pune's Kazumasa Sakai then shocked Bengaluru captain Sai Praneeth 15-11, 15-13 after which World No. 2 Tai Tzu Ying defeated young Rituparna Das 15-12, 15-12 to level the scoreline at 3-3.
