IBL: Mumbai Masters and Awadhe Warriors clash for place in final

Having staged some convincing performances in the league stage, both Awadhe Warriors and Mumbai Masters will fancy their chances and look to take one more step closer to the inaugural Indian Badminton League (IBL) title when they lock horns in the second semifinal at Sree Kanteerava Indoor Stadium on Thursday. Mumbai have some big names in their ranks including World No 1 Lee Chong Wei (Malaysia), Mark Zwiebler (Germany), Tine Baun (Denmark) and Vladimir Ivanov (Russia) to make them appear strong on paper. The Warriors, on the other hand, could manage to impress only after initial hiccups. They peaked at the right time though, winning their last three ties. Thursday’s clash will be the second meeting between the two teams in this tournament. [caption id=“attachment_1068589” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Lee Chong Wei, who hardly seemed to be breaking sweat in his games to chalk out impressive wins, would like to maintain his fitness and go unbeaten in the IBL. PTI[/caption] The Warriors, led by PV Sindhu, defeated Masters in the league phase 3-2. But Mumbai would be keen to forget about that defeat and take inspiration from the games which they won in the league stages. Sindhu played a huge role in engineering a comeback trail for Awadhe by winning three ties on the trot, showing little respect to table-leaders Pune and Mumbai. With the spirited and never-say-die attitude in the team, Warriors have enough stuff to ride into the finals. Sindhu won a hard-fought battle against Tine Baun in the qualifying rounds, and her form will be crucial for the Warriors when she will be up against the former All England Champion. The doubles pairing of Mathias Boe and Markis Kido have been consistently performing well and they should rake up another win. The recent acquisition of Pia Zebadiah helped the Warriors team up Kido with his sibling in the mixed doubles and they have been performing admirably with two wins from as many games. But men’s singles continues to be the Warriors’ Achilles heel as both K Srikanth and RMV Gurusaidutt have not shown any sort of consistency. The performance of these two against the likes of Lee Chong Wei and Mark Zwiebler will be crucial in deciding the outcome of the game. Lee Chong Wei, who hardly seemed to be breaking sweat in his games to chalk out impressive wins, would like to maintain his fitness and go unbeaten in the IBL. And the performance of Vladimir Ivanov and Sikki Reddy in mixed doubles has been working wonders for the Masters. They have been winning consistently and the Mumbai outfit would like to stick to the same combination. The men’s doubles combo of Manu Atri and Sumeeth Reddy have been getting good starts, but have ended up losing matches. They will have to focus better and finish off games if Mumbai are to advance with ease. The women’s singles is an area of concern for Mumbai though, and they may might stick with PC Thulasi. That will enable them to field both Marc Zwiebler and Ivanov as the foreign players in the line up. The German heart-throb Zwiebler has been the go-to-man for the Masters in the IBL. He has been consistently producing resilient match-winning performances and the Masters will be hoping his form continues. Squads: Mumbai Masters: Lee Chong Wei (Malaysia), Mark Zwiebler (Germany), Tine Baun (Denmark), Pranaav Jerry Chopra (India), Manu Attri (India), Siki Reddy (India), PC Thulasi (India), Vladimir Ivanov(Russia), Rasika Raje (India), Sumeeth Reddy (India), Coach: Tey Seu Bock. Awadhe Warriors: P V Sindhu (India), Wei Feng Chong (Malaysia), Gurusaidutt (India), K Srikanth (India), Pia Zebadiah (Indonesia), G Ruthvika Shivani (India), Markis Kido (Indonesia), Mathias Boe (Denmark), K Maneesha (India), Nandagopal K (India), Coach: Hafiz Hashim. PTI