Bengaluru, Aug 21 (IANS): Mandya Bulls trounced Mangalore Sharks 6-3 to make it to the final of the inaugural Grand Prix Badminton League being played at the Karnataka Badminton Association here on Saturday.
The Bulls will lock horns with KGF Wolves, who routed Malnad Falcons and earned the maximum possible points (8). Wolves ended up with 15 points to top the table while Bulls tallied 13 points in the Super League stage. Malnad Falcons on 11 points finished third while Mangalore Sharks finished fourth with a total of seven points.
Ananya Praveen won the first point for the Bulls when she overcame a fighting Vijetha Harsh in the women's singles. Ashith Surya and Sai Pratheek made it 2-0 with a win in the men's doubles.
However, Raghu Mariswamy won his trump match against Anirudh Despande to restore parity. Shashank H.N. and Vijetha Harish won a hard-fought battle in the mixed doubles against Karthikey K. and Ruth Misha Vinod to put Sharks back in lead. Mandya Bulls won the last match, their trump and gained three points to barge into the finals.
In the earlier match, Gloria Vijayakumar gave a rousing start for the Wolves when she thrashed Jahnavi Shetty 15-7, 15-2 in the women's singles.
The duo of Hemanth M. Gowda and Prakash Raj then combined well to beat the fancied pair of Mithun Manjunath and Pruthvi K. Roy in a tough three-gamer to make it 2-0 in favour of Wolves.
Naren S. Iyer, taking advantage of a jaded Shamanth Rao Kidiyoor, came back after a first game loss to win the next two games in a close encounter to make it 3-0. The mixed doubles pair of Suhas V. and Amrutha P. overpowered the duo of Aravind Kongara and Jahnavi Shetty beating them 15-8, 15-8 to go 4-0 up.
With both teams choosing to nominate their Super Match as the Trump Match, the result would have given 4 points for a win and a negative for a loss, which the Falcons embraced with a 14-21 loss, giving Wolves the maximum points which can be earned in a tie.
Results:
Mandya Bulls bt Mangalore Sharks 6-3 (WS: Ananya Praveen bt Vijetha Harish 15-10, 9-15, 15-12; MD: Ashith Surya/Sai Pratheek bt Kushal Raj/Sachin C 15-6, 15-8; MS: Anirudh Deshpande lost to Raghu Mariswamy (Trump) 11-15, 12-15; MXD: Karthikey K/Ruth Misha Vinod lost to Shashank HN/Vijetha Harish 14-15, 15-12, 7-15 SM: Ashith Surya/Sai Prateek/Madhusudan M (Trump) bt Sachin C/Raghu Mariswamy/Kushal Raj 22-20). Player of the tie: Asith Surya
KGF Wolves bt Malnad Falcons (WS: Gloria Vinayakumar bt Jahnavi Shetty 15-7, 15-2; MD: Hemanth M Gowda/Prakash Raj bt Mithun Manjunath/Pruthvi K Roy 15-8, 12-15, 15-13; MS: Naren S Iyer bt Shamanth Rao Kidiyoor 9-15, 15-14, 15-13; MXD: Suhas V/Amurtha P bt Aravind Kongara/Jahnavi Shetty 15-8, 15-8; SM: Hemanth M Gowda/Prakash Raj/Suhas V (Trump) bt Mithun Manjunath/Pruthvi K Roy/Shamanth Rao (Trump) 21-14.). Player of the tie: Hemanth M Gowda.