Indian shuttlecock HS Prannoy ended a six-year title drought on Sunday with a three-match victory over China’s Weng Hong Yang in a thrilling men’s singles final at the Malaysia Masters Super 500 tournament. The 30-year-old Indian showed great composure and determination during a 94-minute battle to earn a 21-19 13-21 21-18 win against China’s world No. 34 Asian Championships bronze medalist Weng Hong Yang in 2022. The win helped him claim his first BWF World Tour title and also India’s first singles crown of the year.
Prannoy was instrumental in India’s epic Thomas Cup victory last year, but an individual title has eluded him since the 2017 US Open Grand Prix Gold.
The Kerala shuttlecock had almost broken his title drought when he reached the final at Swiss Open last year and signed off in the semifinals in Malaysia and the Super 1000 in Indonesia.
Prannoy struggled with a series of injuries and health issues before turning his career in a new direction at the end of 2021.
In the last two years, he was the most consistent Indian player in the circuit and yet he was unable to put it all together in a week to win a major title in the BWF World Tour events.
On Sunday, all his hard work paid off when world number nine Prannoy finally broke the curse and delivered a superlative performance against the 23-year-old from China in a battle of attrition.
This week, Prannoy amply showed his physical and mental strength as he outmaneuvered his opponents – world number five Chou Tien Chen, All England champion Li Shi Feng and Japan’s Kenta Nishimoto – in three games.
Prannoy’s plan was simple: keep up a consistent attack, get it all back and wait for the opponent’s mistake.
The Indian used his obliques to create chances and his economic mobility on the field helped him keep pace with his speedy southpaw opponent.
From 1-3 down, he drew parity at 5-5 after jumping forward to push the shuttlecock away from Weng.
The Chinese stepped forward but two shots from wide meant it was 7-7. Prannoy sometimes ended rallies with a wrong shot at the net, allowing his younger rival to take the lead.
A precise down-the-line smash put the Indian back at 10-10 before Weng hit the net.
Prannoy maintained a conservative approach as the rallies expanded. Soon the duo moved to 16-16. After missing a few net shots, Prannoy picked up a few points before a relentless attack gave him two game points.
He was guilty of giving a mid-court return and was punished. Weng then sent his backhand to the net, as Prannoy deserved the bragging rights.
After the change of ends, Weng led 4-0 after Prannoy went for a flashy return to the net and also hit two long runs. A big smash followed by a backhand snap shot got Prannoy going as he moved into a 5-4 lead with a beautiful backhand block.
In a game of fine margins, the duo tried to play tighter shots and Weng managed to grab an 11-9 tie at the break.
Prannoy then hit a foul patch, found the net and also missed the lines, and suddenly it became 16-10 in favor of Weng.
Frustration was written big on the Indian’s face as mistakes kept tumbling out of his racket. Soon, Weng picked up seven game points with a cross-court return and converted with a precise back-line return to force a decider.
In the third game, Weng maintained his momentum as Prannoy continued to snap at his feet 6-8. A net kill helped the Indian get to 8-8 before Weng ended a thrilling rally with a smash.
Another superb rally ended with Prannoy producing another superlative shot at the net to deceive his opponent, going into the halfway game with a slim one-point lead.
After resumption, Prannoy unleashed his cross-court smashes to advance to 14-11. Weng produced a precise smash and then took aim twice at his rival’s body to cut it down to 13-14.
Prannoy let out a loud cry after a cross-court smash, opening up a 16-13 lead.
Looking for precision, however, Prannoy missed the lines a few times and another long shot helped Weng make it 18-18.
Prannoy held his nerve and responded with a punch, leaving Weng on the ground. Another magic smash, just kissing the lines, gave Prannoy two championship points, which he converted after his opponent hit wide.
(This story has not been edited by DailyExpertNews staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
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