Playing for her franchisee Chennai Smashers, this is Sindhu’s first loss in the PBL. Playing for her franchisee Chennai Smashers, this is Sindhu’s first loss in the PBL.

Carolina Marin prevailed over PV Sindhu 11-8, 12-14, 11-2 in the opening match of the Premier Badminton League 2017. The tie was a close fought one and Marin had won the first game 11-8. But Sindhu made a return by winning the second game 12-14. Even then, apart from a long rally for Marin’s fourth point, the third set proved to be much lesser of a competition and in the end, the Olympic gold medallist blew away Sindhu 11-2 to seal the match.

Playing for her franchisee Chennai Smashers, this is Sindhu’s first loss in the PBL. She had six consecutive wins in the first edition of the tournament. He 2017 may have got off to a bad start but she was optimistic about her team’s chances. Marin was at the top of her game as she deceived Sindhu with some accurate drops and fired in the smashes when required. While the Indian kept fighting, the unforced errors didn’t do her any favour in the 11-point contest.

It was technically Marin’s home game as she was representing Hyderabad Hunters. But the cheers seemed to be all for Sindhu with the crowd exploding whenever she got a point. Her victory proved to be the only bright light thus far for her team as they have gone on to lose the remaining three matches. Thus, the score at the moment is Hyderabad Hunters 1-3 Chennai Smashers.

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