PANAJI
Aces edged out Wolves 147-143 in an edge-of-the-seat thriller to be crowned champions of the Enthu Badminton 2020 Team League event, held at Indoor Stadium, Campal.
The Aces team had a smooth passage into the finals, winning seven out of seven league rounds but the finals turned out to be a close exciting contest. With seven pairs battling it out in an innovative 21-point relay format and scores being added up after each doubles game, Wolves took the fight to their fancied opponents.
At the end of the sixth doubles game, Wolves trailed Aces 110-126. Trailing by 16 points was always going to be a huge task to overhaul, but the seventh Wolves pair of Raghavan Padmanabha / Parag Chauhan fought valiantly to narrow down the gap. However, R Prakash Prakash / Shiva Kumar (Aces) held their nerves in the closing stages to secure a slender four-point win and take their team over the finishing line.
The play-off for the 3rd and 4th place was won by Raging Rhinos, who secured an identical 147-143 win over Royal Kings.
