Wolves rout Falcons, Bulls tame Sharks to set up title clash

NT Correspondent

Bengaluru

 Ma n d y a B u l l s trounced the Mangalore Sharks 6-3 to make it to the finals of the inaugural Grand Prix Badminton League being played at the Karnataka Badminton Association here on Saturday. Bulls will lock horns with KGF Wolves, who routed Malnad Falcons and earned the maximum possible points (8). The Wolves ended up with 15 points to top the table, while the Bulls tallied 13 points in the Super League stage. Malnad Falcons, with 11 points finished third, while Manga[1]lore Sharks finished fourth with a total of seven points.

 Ananya Praveen won the first point for the Bulls when she overcame a fighting Vijetha Harsh in the women’s singles. Ashish Surya and Sai Pratheek made it 2-0 with a win in the men’s doubles. However, Raghu Mariswamy won his trump match against Anirudh Despande to restore parity. Shashank HN and Vijetha Harish won a hard-fought battle in the mixed doubles against Karthikey K and Ruth Misha Vinod to put the Sharks back in lead. Mandya Bulls won the last match, their trump, and gained three points to barge into the finals.

 With both teams choosing to nominate their Super Match as the Trump Match, the result would have given 4 points for a win and a negative for a loss, which the Falcons embraced with a 14-21 loss, giving Wolves the maximum points which can be earned in a tie.

Results: Mandya Bulls bt Mangalore Sharks 6-3; WS: Ananya Praveen bt Vijetha Harish 15-10, 9-15, 15-12; MD: Ashith Surya / Sai Pratheek bt Kushal Raj / Sachin C 15-6, 15-8; MS: Anirudh Deshpande lost to Raghu Mariswamy (Trump) 11-15, 12-15; MXD: Karthikey K / Ruth Misha Vinod lost to Shashank HN / Vijetha Harish 14-15, 15- 12, 7-15 SM: Ashith Surya / Sai Prateek / Madhusu[1]dan M (Trump) bt Sachin C / Raghu Maris