Glorious victory by Prannoy: Prannoy, 31, was noted for his powerful backhand game that slayed elite players. But it’s in the deciders since his Thomas Cup victory that he’s morphed into a beast, outthinking opponents even when exhausted and never being out of the picture, even if he’s dropped the opening.
After a 73-minute struggle with world number 2 Anthony Sinisuka Ginting of Indonesia, world number 9 Prannoy came out victorious bouncing back from an early game reversal to win 16-21 21-17 21-14.
The Indian had his chances, but they were few and far between as the Indonesian maintained a four-point advantage. Prannoy scored two quick points at 14-19 before Ginting won to take a 1-0 lead.
The second game began on an even keel, with the duo duelling tight before Prannoy pulled away at 9-9 to take a two-point lead into halftime. He built a 14-9 lead before Ginting trimmed the score to 12-15. The Indian shuttler had seven game points but blew four of them before forcing the match to a tiebreaker.
In the third game, Prannoy raced out to a 4-0 lead, but Ginting rallied to make it 7-8 before the Indian won 11-7. When Ginting staged a great comeback with five straight points to make it 13-15, Prannoy smothered the mutiny and quickly shut the door on his top-seeded adversary.
Prannoy will compete against young Indian challenger Priyanshu Rajawat, who won a lopsided 30-minute match against his senior and namesake Kidambi Srikanth by scores of 21-13 and 21-8.
Also read: India defeated China 7-2 in the Asian Champions Trophy
