Bengaluru, Aug 14 (Representative) With both the teams tied at 3-3 at the end of the fourth match, KGF Wolves, boosted by the presence of their mentor HS Prannoy, won the decider (Super Match) to bag three points and surge ahead of their rivals Malnad Falcons in their group B encounter in the Grand Prix Badminton League at the Karnataka Badminton Association here on Saturday. The Falcons opened their account with two points winning their trump match (women’s singles) with the Wolves restoring parity in the next match (Men’s doubles). Falcons won a point in the third while Wolves won the fourth, thus rendering the Super Match as the decider. Earlier, Bengaluru Lions overcame a 0-2 deficit to post a thrilling 7-2 victory over Mysore Panthers to begin their campaign on a winning note.
The City team shares the top spot on the leaderboard along with Mandya Bulls at seven points. KGF Wolves are third at six points. The 7-2 score-line defied the looks of an easy encounter and Panthers registered a win in the women’s singles, their trump match to go 2-0 ahead. The Lions fought back with victories in the men’s doubles and singles event respectively to restore parity and then edged out Panthers in the mixed doubles match, their trump match narrowly to gain 2 points and go 4-2 up. With three points at stake, the Super Match could have gone either way as the City team narrowly won 22-20.
A loss would have meant a victory for the Panthers. Results: KGF Wolves bt Malnad Falcons 6-3 WS: Rashmi Ganesh lost to Drithi Yateesh (Trump) 12-15, 9-15; MD: Prakash Raj / Suhas V (Trump) bt Aravind Kongara / Pruthvi K Roy 15-11, 15-13; MS: Rudra Shahi lost to Mithun Manjunath 10-15, 6-15; MXD: Hemanth M Gowda / Gloria Vinayakumar bt Shamanth Rao Kidiyoor / Drithi Yateesh 14-15, 15-13, 15-11; SM: Hemanth / Prakash Raj / Suhas V bt Pruthvi K Roy / Mithun Manjunath / Samanth 21-19. Player of the match: Hemanth M Gowda Bengaluru Lions bt Mysore Panthers 7-2 WS: Janani Ananthkumar lost to Tanya Hemant (Trump) 7-15, 3-15; MD: Sanjeeth S/Vaibhav Srinath bt BM Rahul/Rohith Mariswamy 13-15, 15-14, 15-6; MS: S Bhargav bt Tarun Morab 15-10, 15-9; MXD: Nithin HV / Janani Ananthkumar bt Kiran Kumar G / Tanya Hiremath, 13-15, 15-10, 15-7; SM: Vaibhav Srinath / Nithin HV / Sanjeeth S bt Rohith Mariswamy / BH Rahul / Kiran Kumar G 22-20. Player of the match: Nithin HVSunday’s matches (Live on Eurosport) Kodagu Tigers vs Bandipur Tuskers 3pm Mandya Bulls Vs. Mangalore Sharks 6pm