Rio 2016 Olympics silver medallist in women's badminton, PV Sindhu, overcame her compatriot and one of India's other badminton superstars, Saina Nehwal, in their semi final encounter at the Premier Badminton League (PBL) 2017 on Friday evening.
Read: Premier Badminton League 2017 squads.
Sindhu, representing team Chennai Smashers, defeated Saina, who represents Awadhe Warriors, in straight sets, notching up a 11-7 11-8 victory.
Matches in the Premier Badminton League 2017 are contested over 11-point games.
The first game between the two Indians at the Squash and Badminton Courts, Siri Fort, New Delhi saw some captivating rallies from the very beginning. Saina and Sindhu worked toe-to-toe to take the scores from 2-2 to 5-5 and so on.
Saina got an early break, winning two points on the trot thereafter. And that brought out the comeback spirit in Sindhu, which we are witnessing since the Olympics 2016. The Hyderabadi shuttler not only overcame Saina's lead in the first game but also pocketed some flurry of points to take the first game 11-7.
Sindhu continued her momentum in the second game as well, which looked a little bit one-sided, but Saina, nevertheless, manage to reduce her deficit of points. Trailing 3-6 at one point, Saina showed her resilience to quickly pick up points and make the score 10-8 in favour of point.
But..at the end, the match point proved vital for Sindhu as the Olympics queen capitalised on it and took away the match.
In case you've missed the game, fret not. Watch the highlights here...
