Hyderabad Hunters defeated Bengaluru Blasters 4-3 in the final of the Premier Badminton League (PBL) at the Gachibowli Indoor Stadium in Hyderabad on Sunday, 14 January.
The Hunters began on the backfoot, with their men's doubles pair of Markis Kido and Yoo Yeon Seong losing the first match to Blasters’ Mathias Boe & Kim Sa Rang.
However, Lee Hyun II took the responsibility of playing Hyderabad's 'Trump Match'. He defeated Shubhankar Dey 15-7, 15-13 as Hyderabad led 2-1.
Bengaluru fought back immediately as their reigning world champion Viktor Axelsen, playing the 'Trump Match', crushed B Sai Praneeth 15-8, 15-10. Axelsen stamped his authority over Praneeth as he continued his unbeaten run in the PBL.
Following the win of the Danish star, Bengaluru got in the lead at 3-2.
However Olympic 2016 champion and two-time World Championship winner Carolina Marin pulled Hyderabad level 3-3 after the Spaniard edged past Kirsty Gilmour 15-8, 15-14.
With the match locked 3-3 going into the last match of the tie, Hyderabad's mixed doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Pia Zebadiah got the better of Kim Sa Rang and N Sikki Reddy 15-11, 15-12 to seal the title for the hosts.
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