Now that league stage has come to an end, top placed Hyderabad Hotshots will meet third placed Pune Pistons in the first semi-final of the Indian Badminton League (IBL) 2013 at Gachibowli Indoor Stadium, Hyderabad on Wednesday.
The match will begin at 08:00 pm IST and will be broadcast live on ESPN and Star Sports 2 channels.
Overview:
It will be their second encounter in the tournament. Hyderabad Hotshots beat Pune Pistons 4-1 in their previous meeting.
Hyderabad Hotshots are placed on top of the table with 17 points after winning three of the five matches played in the league stage. They won against Awadhe Warriors, Pune Pistons and Mumbai Masters while conceding loss to Krrish Delhi Smashers and Banga Beats enroute their entry to the semi-finals.
Pune Pistons are in the third spot of the table with 15 points after winning three games and losing two. They beat Krrish Delhi Smashers, Mumbai Masters and Banga Beats while conceding loses to Hyderabad Hotshots and Awadhe Warriors in the tournament.
Previous Meeting:
Hyderabad Hotshots beat Pune Pistons 4-1 in the league stage.
Team News:
Hyderabad Hotshots: Saina Nehwal, who is in good form, is likely to meet Juliane Schenk. The Indian star won their last encounter. Ajay Jayaram and Minh S Tanongsak, who beat their Pune Pistons' counterparts in their previous meetings, will lead the men's singles. V Shem Goh and KW Lim will play men's doubles.
Pune Pistons: Juliane Schenk, Nyugen Tien and Saurabh Varma may feature in the singles encounters while R Kumar and Sanave Thomas may play men's doubles. Ashwini Ponnappa and Joachim Fischer Nielsen will be expected to win on Wednesday.
Squads:
Hyderabad Hotshots Team List: Saina Nehwal (c) (India), Pradnya Gadre (India), Tarun Kona (India), Ajay Jayaram (India), Taufik Hidayat (Indonesia), Tanongsak (Thailand), Goh V Shem (Malaysia), Lim Khim Wah (Malaysia), Kanthi Visalakshi P (India), Shubhankar Dey (India), C. Rahul Yadav (India)
Pune Pistons Team List: Ashwini Ponnappa (c) (India), Nguyen Tien Minh (Vietnam), Saurabh Verma (India), Anup Sridhar (India), Juliane Schenk (Germany), Joachiam Fischer Nielsen (India), Sanave Thomas (India), Arun Vishnu (India), Tan Wee Kiong (Malaysia), Rupesh Kumar (India)
