A Masters piece for Prannoy

PTI

Kuala Lumpur, May 28

Star Indian shuttler HS Prannoy ended a six-year title drought with a three-game win over China’s Weng Hong Yang in a pulsating men’s singles final at the Malaysia Masters Super 500 here today.

The 30-year-old Indian showed great composure and resolve during a 94-minute battle to notch a 21-19 13-21 21-18 victory against China’s world No. 34, a 2022 Asian Championships bronze medallist.

The win helped him to claim his maiden BWF World Tour title and also the first singles crown of the year for India.

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 shuttler had come close to ending the drought when he reached the final at the Swiss Open last year and signed off at the semifinals stage in the Malaysia and Indonesia Super 1000.

Prannoy has battled a series of injuries and health issues before turning his career around in the back end of 2021. In the last two years, he has been the most consistent Indian player in the circuit, and still always came up sort of winning a big title in the BWF World Tour events.

However, it all paid off as the world No. 9 finally broke the jinx, dishing out a superlative performance against the 23-year-old Chinese in a battle of attrition. The Indian used his angled returns to create chances and his economical court mobility helped him to keep pace with his quick left-handed opponent.

This week, Prannoy gave ample display of his physical and mental fortitude as he outfoxed his opponents in three games. He beat world No. 5 Chou Tien Chen, All England champion Li Shi Feng and Japan’s Kenta Nishimoto on his way to the title.

“The draw was really tough for me, I had tough matches. I had to really dig deep in the four matches. It all went to the wire. It shows how much I was patient and my fitness was also decent,” he said.

Prannoy’s plan was simple: keep up a consistent attack, retrieve everything and wait for the opponents’ mistake.

“To beat such players is not easy. The conditions were slow and I had to hang in there and I did that,” he said.

‘Didn’t expect this’

The sleep-deprived Indian had almost given up on winning his next title and ending the drought before chief national coach Pullela Gopichand instilled the belief in him that he remains a force to reckon with.

“I haven’t been sleeping well for last three days, my team was a bit worried that I am not sleeping. There was so much emotion, you are excited to come out and play in front of this beautiful crowd,” Prannoy said after the title triumph.

“I think there are too many emotions. The last six years have been too much of a rollercoaster. I didn’t expect that it will happen after six years to be honest. I mean if you would have asked me in 2017 I don’t think I would have told you that I will win in 2023. So lots of mixed emotions,” he added. “Thanks to all the coaches, support staff and Gopi sir (chief national coach Pullela Gopichand). He kept telling me that it will happen one day and I should keep believing.”

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