Delhi Dashers trounced North Eastern Warriors 4-1 as the Hyderabad leg of the Premier Badminton League got off to an exciting start, here on Wednesday.
Tian Houwei led the Delhi charge by staging a brilliant recovery in his men's singles duel against Tzu Wei Wang before winning 10-15, 15-8, 11-15.
The Chinese, ranked 22 in the world, was down 2-8 in the final game but bounced back to clinch it 15-11 and upset the World No11.
Wang's defeat was a big blow for the Warriors as it was their Trump match which meant they ended up with a negative point. Interestingly, it was their first Trump loss of the season, having won all four earlier.
Michelle Li and Shin Baek Cheol had provided a bright start to the Warriors winning their mixed doubles duel against the Delhi pair of Ashwini Ponnappa and Vladimir Ivanov in straight games 15-13, 15-11.
But Wing Ki Wong Vincent helped Delhi level the scores as he won the day's first men's singles against Ajay Jayaram 15- 13, 10-15, 15-12.
The World No 15 started off well by clinching a tight first game 15-13 only to find the Indian stage a fightback in the second with a combination of deft placements and effective smashes. Ajay, ranked 38 in the World, went on to pocket the second game 15-12. The third game was evenly poised at 8-7 in favour of the 27-year-old from Hong Kong and he went on to consolidate it.
S J Hyun then defeated M Li 13-15, 15-11, 15-13 in Delhi's Trump match to seal the tie. The defeat of V Ivanov and I Sazanov in the final doubles did not make any difference to the end result.
