PBL 2018: All you need to know about the Awadhe Warriors

saina nehwal srikanth kidambi — Saina Nehwal and Srikanth Kidambi will be leading the charge

With a star-studded squad in place, the Awadhe Warriors can truly boast of warriors in their ranks in the third season of the Premier Badminton League (PBL). They have been to the semi-finals in the last two editions, but never managed to make it to the final day of the competition.

There’s no doubt that this time they will be going all out to claim that elusive title.

Any team that has shuttlers of the calibre of Srikanth Kidambi and Saina Nehwal can dream of conquering this pan-Indian league. Especially after the kind of smashing season that the Guntur-born Srikanth had, where he won four Superseries titles, the Warriors cannot be called over-ambitious for fancying their chances.

The World No. 3 Srikanth, however, did not have the perfect finish to a memorable season, having lost all his three group matches at the World Superseries Finals in Dubai. But that would probably make him doubly motivated to get back his lost confidence. And what better platform than the PBL for that!

He has the reigning Commonwealth Games champion Parupalli Kashyap for company. It was unfortunately at the PBL Season 2 final that he got injured, which eventually cost him a few months. The World No. 54 would be keen to exorcise those memories and put in a strong show.

In women’s singles, all eyes would be on Saina Nehwal. The former World No. 1 probably did not have the best of seasons, following her knee surgery in late 2016. But that does not make the World No. 10 any less of a threat for Awadhe’s rival teams.

She still grabbed a World Championships bronze medal and reached four Superseries quarter-finals, besides winning the Malaysia Masters. In the domestic circuit, she clinched her third Senior National Championships title, beating PV Sindhu in the final.

Those achievements validate that she still has the same hunger and fighting spirit and would thus be one of the guiding forces for the Warriors.

Two all-time greats in doubles

The doubles department does not look shabby either. 2008 Olympic gold medallist Hendra Setiawan will be leading the charge in men’s doubles. The Indonesian also has three World Championships gold medals on his illustrious resume.

Currently ranked 20th, Setiawan made it to the summit clash at the Australian Open this year. His presence can certainly do wonders for the team.

The Warriors have more options in this discipline. They have also acquired the services of the seasoned Hong Kong pair of Or Chin Chung and Tang Chun Man, who are currently placed at 26th.

In mixed doubles, the presence of the 15th ranked Christinna Pedersen will give them the edge over other teams. The Dane’s accomplishments know no bounds. She has Olympic medals in both women’s doubles and mixed doubles disciplines and reached the pinnacle of the mixed doubles world rankings in 2015.

Her new partnership with Mathias Christiansen hit off promisingly and the two reached back-to-back Superseries finals in China and Hong Kong in 2017.

Sai Uttejitha Rao Chukka, Mahima Aggarwal and Harshit Aggarwal are the talented Indian youngsters in the team, who will surely use this PBL stint to take their game to the next level.