Rockets ‘Trump’ Warriors in opener

Mumbai Rockets got off to a winning start after the Awadhe Warriors messed up tactically to lose the tie in their opening encounter of the Premier Badminton League at the NSCI Sports Stadium in Mumbai on Saturday.

The Awadhe Warriors paid heavily after they selected the wrong trump match, which technically cost them the match.

In the opening game of the tie, Mumbai’s R.M.V. Guru-saidutt showed character and gumption to fightback after being one-game down to defeat B. Sai Praneeth 14-15, 15-10, 15-8 to open the points tally for the hosts.

In the second tie, the Warriors looked to take a gamble as they selected the men’s double clash as their as their ‘Trump match’. The gamble backfired as the Warriors’ Cia Yun-Hendra Gunwan pair were clinically thrashed in straight games by Rockets’ duo of Mathais Boe and Vladimir Ivanov, who won 15-11, 15-11 to double the hosts lead.

The defeat left the Warriors points tally in the negative.With the visitors staring at defeat, all hopes were on G. Vrusahli in the women’s singles match against Mum-bai’s Ruthvika Gadde.

The pressure proved too much for the junior shuttler as Ruthvika romped home to 15-13, 15-10 win to make it 3-0 for the hosts.

With the match technically lost, the other encounter were a mere formality as the Warriors notched up their first win after Indonesian S. Tanongsak defeated Rockets captain H.S. Prannoy 15-12, 14-15, 15-14.

Earlier, Bollywood pin-up star Jacqueline Fernandez mermerised the crowd with her breath-taking moves, while music composer Salim-Sulaiman rocked with sizzling performance as the PBL 2016 got off to a glitzy opening ceremony.