Defending champions Chennai Smashers went down to Delhi Dashers in an unfortunate fashion after they had to concede the last match of the tie due to an ankle injury to Gabrielle Adcock in the Premier Badminton League here on Wednesday.
The match, which would have decided the outcome of the tie, could not be completed as Gabrielle twisted her ankle while returning a shot. Playing in their trump match, the Adcock couple Gabrielle and Chris were trailing 5-6 in the first game.
Going into the match, Chennai were trailing 1-2, and the defeat in the trump match meant Delhi gaining the winning lead. As per rules, Chennai lost one point and the result became 3-0 in favour of Delhi.
Earlier, Korea's Sung Ji Hyun, ranked 6th in the world, beat World No 3 PV Sindhu to give Delhi a slight advantage (2-1 on points).
Sung Ji, who had lost to Sindhu on two occasions last season, exacted her revenge to disappoint the packed stadium that braved the chilly weather to see their favourite star in action. In the marquee clash of the day, Sung Ji prevailed 11-15, 15-13, 15-14.
In the lung-opener, the Indo-Taiwanese men's doubles combination of B Sumeeth Reddy and Lee Yang scored a superb 15-13,15-11 victory over the Delhi trump duo of Ivan Sozonov and Vladimir Ivanov to help Chennai draw first blood, the score reading 1-(-1).
However, Delhi's Vincent Wong Wing Ki then registered a comprehensive 15-10, 15-13 victory over France's Brice Leverdez to begin his team's recovery. The score read 1-0 in favour of Chennai at that point.
Delhi then drew level at 1-1, with Tain Houwei defeating Chennai Smashers' Tanongsak Saemsomboonsuk 15- 14,15-10. With Sung defeating Sindhu, it became 2-1 in favour of Delhi before the injury to Adcock in Chennai's trump game made it 3-0 for Delhi.
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