Mumbai: After two consecutive victories over P.V. Sindhu, and Saina Nehwal, World No. 2 and Olympic champion Carolina Marin’s winning streak in the Premier Badminton League (PBL) finally came to a halt when she was defeated by Mumbai Rockets’ Sung Ji Hyun with 7-11, 11-7, 12-14 at Mumbai’s NSCI Stadium on Wednesday.
Marin was clearly struggling from the get-go and made a lot of unforced-errors with shots would always crashing into the net. After losing her first set with 7-11, Marin played aggressively to bounce back and claimed the second set.
In the decider, Sung Ji Hyun managed to tie the score at 7-7. They have been neck-and-neck on every possession until 12-12. Sung took advantage of Marin’s mistake to reach match point at 13-12, before Marin committed another mistake to allow Sung to win the women’s singles match for Mumbai Rockets.
“It was a good match but I made a lot of mistakes,” said Marin.
The Olympic champion then played a rare role of cheerleader screaming her heart out when her teammates Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chau Hoi Wah were battling Lee Yong Dae Lee and Nadiezda Zieba in the mixed doubles match which was Mumbai Rockets’ ‘Trump Match’. Mumbai Rockets eventually handed 2-1 lead to Hyderabad Hunters by losing that match.
Nevertheless, H.S Prannoy held his nerve to overcome Sameer Verma 11-6, 11-7 to change the course of the tie in favor of Mumbai Rockets with a 2-1 win.
