Delhi Acers, the Premier Badminton League franchise beat Mumbai Rockets on Sunday to claim their maiden Premier Badminton League title. Playing in front of their home crowd at the Sriri Fort Sports Complex, the Delhi Acers beat Mumbai Rockets 4-3 in a nail-biting finish.
As with most sports events in India, there was Bollywood presence too, as Akshay Kumar had come visiting to promote his film at the event. There were a few celebrity matches as well, before the actual competitive matches began.
The Premier Badminton League uses the interesting concept of ‘Trump’ matches, wherein a player gets two points for a victory, but a loss results in a point being deducted. Delhi used this to their advantage, with their player Rajiv Ouseph playing his trump match. Mumbai were leading 3-2 in the finals and Rajiv needed to win the match under any circumstances.
The exciting match ended with Rajiv beating Mumbai’s Gurusai Dutt and managed to get a slight edge, which was enough for them to scrape together a victory. This is the second season of the Premier Badminton League, with the earlier edition being called Indian Badminton League. Hyderabad Hotshots had won the first season of the League.
Premier Badminton League joins a string of other sports that have been enjoying a good following in India, like the Pro Kabaddi League, the Indian Super League (football) and the Indian Hockey League.
