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Indian badminton fans were treated to a spectacle on Saturday that they will remember for a long time. With the whole NSCI Dome in Mumbai cheering vociferously, PV Sindhu and Lin Dan teamed up to beat Saina Nehwal and Lee Chong Wei, 9-8 in a close encounter in an exhibition mixed doubles match.
Lin Dan and Lee Chong Wei are in India along with Taufik Hidayat, Peter Gade and Lee Yong Dae as a part of The Legends Vision World Tour that is supported by the sports equipment manufacturing giant, Yonex.
The initiative was first launched in 2015 in an attempt to increase awareness of the sport across the globe. The first leg of the Tour was held in Japan in September this year following which the legends have converged in Mumbai. The final leg will be held in Paris in December.
All the current top Indian stars -- Saina Nehwal, PV Sindhu, Srikanth Kidambi, HS Prannoy and Sai Praneeth have taken part in the numerous exhibition matches that were held throughout the evening. Former All England champions, Prakash Padukone and Pullela Gopichand too attended the programme.
In one such match, the 2017 World Championships silver medallist, Sindhu had the honour of sharing the court with the two-time Olympic champion, Lin Dan. 2012 London Olympic bronze medallist Saina got the opportunity to play with the former World No. 1 Lee Chong Wei on the other side of the net.
The four orchestrated a fabulous rally that had the crowd at the edge of their seats. The rally had it all -- Lee’s jump smashes, Saina’s net play, Sindhu’s jump smashes as well as Lin Dan’s overall brilliance. It finally ended with Sindhu directing the shuttle to Lee which helped the Chinese great to finish it off at the net and clinch the win.
Sindhu and Lin Dan then celebrated with a fistpump that had the entire arena applauding.
