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The World No.1 Viktor Axelsen and the World No.5 Son Wan Ho face off at the new venue in Lucknow on Monday in a match that would definitely attract the most number of eyes around the world.
In September last year, the then World No.1 Son Wan Ho went down to Axelsen in the semi-final of Japan Open in straight sets and lost his No.1 ranking subsequently when the Dane went on to win the superseries. The South Korean shuttler would come out all guns blazing against the Bengaluru star to take his revenge.
Earlier, in the first leg of the league, Son Wan Ho was stunned by World No.22 Tian Houwei as he lost 13-15, 15-13, 15-9.
In the second leg of the league, the World No.5 came back to winning ways while ensuring 2 points for his team against Thailand's Tanongsak Saensomboonsuk in straight games while dropping only 16 points en route victory. The World champion defeated Houwei in straight games, dropping 22 points to ensure a victory.
In the mixed doubles' tie, Gabriel Stoeva and Lee Yong Dae won their earlier tie in the first leg and would be hoping to repeat their feat against the pair of either one of Kim Sa Rang or Mathias Boe and N Sikki Reddy. World No. 16 Kirsty Gilmour goes up against World No. 11 Beiwen Zhaing in the women's singles match.
Bengaluru Blasters and Mumbai Rockets are last and second last in the table with 5 and 7 points respectively. Both the teams would be hoping for maximum wins on Monday to ensure a challenge for the top half of the table.
Here is all the information you need to know
Tournament name: Premier Badminton League Season 3
Venue: Babu Banarasi Das U.P. Badminton Academy, Lucknow
Date: Monday, January 1, 2018
Time: 7.00 pm IST
Channel: Star Sports 1/Star Sports 1 HD
Livestream information: Star Sports Hotstar
The squads
Bengaluru Masters: Manu Attri, Subhankar Dey, N Sikki Reddy, Rituparna Das, Sanjana Santosh, Viktor Axelsen, Chong Wei Fang, Kim Sa Rang, Mathias Boe, Kristy Gilmour
Mumbai Rockets: Arjun MR, Kona Tarun, Sameer Verma, Sanyam Shukla, Beiwen Zhang, Gabriela Stoeva, Son Wan Ho, Boon Heong Tan, Lee Yong Dae, Kuhoo Garg
