Srikanth keeps Bengaluru Raptors in hunt for semi-final berth at PBL

Bengaluru Raptors skipper Kidambi Srikanth led from the front against Mumbai Rockets to keep his team in the hunt for a semifinal berth at the Premier Badminton League Season 4 here on TuesdayBengaluru needed a minimum of four points to move into the top 4 and they were successful in their attempt as they won the first three matches including a Trump to knock the Pune 7 Aces out at the Kanteerava Indoor StadiumWorld No 18 Anders Antonsen of Mumbai put up a brilliant performance against an unbeaten Srikanth but fell short at the end in each game as the former World No 1 sealed a narrow 1514 1513 victoryTen ranking places separate World No 8 Srikanth and the Dane but Antonsen refused to let that matterWith an array of body smashes Srikanth went up to 85 but Antonsen came storming back to 99 With the two tied at 1313 the Dane made it 1413 and had a game point which Srikanth erased with aplomb by taking the next two pointsThe second game turned out to be as competitive as the first one Both of them resorted to aggressive display and were even till 1313 until Srikanth made one last push to secure the winEarlier in the day Bengaluru always had the upper hand in womens singles World No 59 Vu Thi Trang of the Raptors had never met Mumbais 202nd ranked Shreyanshi Pardeshi on the international circuit and her experience was definitely her assetThe Vietnamese also the Raptors Trump for the night absolutely blew away the young Indian in the first game 154However Pardeshi refused to be intimidated and pocketed the second game 1511 only to see Vu find her game for a 154 1115 157 winWith former mens doubles world champions Mohammad Ahsan and Hendra Setiawan being in the lineup the Raptors had every right to feel confident against the Mumbai duo of Lee Yong Dae and Kim Gi JungHaving triumphed thrice in four outings so far the Indonesians had the edge and they wrapped it up in straight games winning 1511 1511The Mumbai pair stayed close on their heels in the first game trailing by just a solitary point at 1011 But a string of unforced errors dashed all their hopesCatch up on all the latest sports news and updates here Also download the new midday Android and iOS apps to get latest updatesThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Except for the change in headline the story has been provided ASIS AS AVAILABLE without any verification or editing from our side Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever