PBL: Marin, Lakshya help Pune 7 Aces outclass Delhi Dashers 5-0, stay in contention for SF

Olympic gold medallist Carolina Marin and Asian junior champion Lakshya Sen helped Pune 7 Aces beat Delhi Dashers 5-0 at the Vodafone Premier Badminton League at The Arena by SE TransStadia on Sunday.

2012 Olympic silver medallist Mathias Boe also won a crucial men’s doubles match alongside Chirag Shetty.

Pune move up to the third position with 17 points earned from six matches and five trump wins. However, with the fourth-placed Awadhe Warriors and the fifth-placed Bengaluru Raptors having played two ties less, the Aces’ fate depend on the outcome of the Warriors and the Raptors matches.

World No 32 Evgeniya Kosetskaya was absolutely no match for Marin, the skipper and icon player of Pune. The Spaniard wrapped up the match in 20 mintues.

Marin had lost her previous match to Sung Ji Hyun of the Chennai Smashers. So she was thirsting for a win. The three-time world champion used her speed, power and attack to great effect to race ahead to 11-3 and clinched the opening game 15-5.

She got to an 8-4 lead in the second game before winning it 15-6.

Reigning Asian Junior champion Lakshya Sen beat his elder brother Chirag Sen 15-12, 15-11. Lakshya led 8-6 in the first game before Chirag equalised at 12-12. But the younger brother clinched the game.

In the second game, Chirag led 5-4 but Lakshya surged to a 12-9 lead through some deft touches at the net that put him in the path to victory.

Pune fielded Mathias Boe and Chirag Shetty against Delhi’s Trump pair of Maneepong Jongjit and Chai Biao. It was on the Dashers duo to try and salvage some pride for their tottering team and they made their intentions clear when they pocketed the first game 15-9.

However, that was all they could do, for the Pune pair soon came storming back to win the match 9-15, 15-10, 15-13.

Earlier, the mixed doubles pair of Vladimir Ivanov and Line Kjaersfeldt beat Delhi’s Maneepong Jongjit and Evgeniya Kosetskaya.

Former World Championships bronze medallist Tommy Sugiarto clinched the final rubber of the tie with a 15-7, 15-14 win over Pune’s Brice Leverdez.