Bengaluru, Aug 19 (IANS): Mandya Bulls, despite earning a penalty point in the deciding Super Match of their tie against KGF Wolves, came back to erase a 7-point deficit and win 22-20 to earn three points in their second tie of the Super League stage of the Grand Prix Badminton League here on Friday.
Despite the loss, the Wolves added three points to their overnight total of four points and were in the joint lead along with the Bulls in the matches being held at the Karnataka Badminton Association courts.
Ananya Praveen, saved three game points in the first game to win 15-14 and won a close second game to open the account for the Bulls. Ashith Surya and Sai Pratheek then earned two points from their trump match in the men's doubles to lead 3-0.
Naren Iyer won a close match against favourite Anirudh Deshpande to reduce the lead for the Wolves while Hemanth Gowda and Amurtha P. equalized by winning their trump match in the mixed doubles.
With both the teams tied at 3-3, the Super Match provided some fireworks on the court by both teams but the trio of Ashith, Pratheek and Madhusudan made a superb comeback after 7-14 down to take the Bulls through.
Results:
Mandya Bulls bt KGF Wolves 6-3 (WS: Ananya Praveen bt Gloria Vinayakumar 15-14, 15-13; MD: Ashith Surya/Sai Pratheek (Trump) bt Prakash Raj/Suhas V 15-9, 15-13; MS: Anirudh Deshpande lost to Nares S Iyer 14-15, 14-15; MXD: Nitin Sappar/Ruth Misha Vinod lost to Hemanth M Gowda/Amrutha P 12-15, 15-10, 9-15; SM: Ashith Surya/Sai Pratheek/Madhusudan M bt Hemanth M Gowda/Prakash Raj/Suhas V 22-20).