Axelsen guides Bengaluru to win

Lucknow, January 2

World champion Viktor Axelsen staved off a strong challenge from world No. 5 Son Wan Ho as Bengaluru Blasters blanked Mumbai Rockets 6-(-1) in the Premier Badminton League here today. The dominating run of Bengaluru Blasters took them to the top of the table with 11 points, while Mumbai Rockets sunk to the bottom with six points.
Playing the trump match for the Blasters, world No. 1 Axelsen beat Son 15-6 15-13 to hand his team an unassailable 4-0 lead after three matches in the five-game contest. “I know that he can come back anytime,” Axelsen said. “Everyone saw the way he came back in the second game and it was crucial for me to stay focussed throughout.”
Mumbai then lost their trump match as Sameer Verma went down 9-15 15-8 15-6 to CW Feng to go into the negative. They also suffered defeat in the men’s doubles fifth match to cut a sorry figure.
Earlier, world No. 16 Kirsty Gilmour extended Bengaluru’s lead after she got the better of the USA’s Beiwen Zhang, ranked 11th in the world, 15-14 15-8.
In the opening match of the tie, N Sikki Reddy and Kim Sa Rang beat Mumbai’s MR Arjun and Gabriela Stoeva 15-8 10-15 15-10 in the mixed doubles category.