Prannoy has his joy: Stuns Momota, Lakshya sails into pre-quarters but Srikanth misses out

PTI

Tokyo, August 24

India’s HS Prannoy stunned second seed Kento Momota in straight games to record a sensational win, while reigning Commonwealth Games champion Lakshya Sen also sailed into the men’s singles pre-quarterfinals of the World Championships here today.

The record has not been great with him. It is always tough to play against someone who has played at the highest level. “I had to be really disciplined against him today. HS Prannoy

The unseeded Prannoy rose above the expectations to shut the door on the home favourite and two-time former world champion Momota 21-17 21-16 in a second-round tie.

Incidentally, it was Prannoy’s first win over Momota in eight matches. In their previous clashes, the Indian had won only one game against the highly-rated Japanese.

1 This was Prannoy’s first win over Momota in eight matches. In the past, he had won only one game against the Japanese.

Earlier in the day, Sen sailed into the pre-quarterfinals with a straight-game win over Spain’s Luis Penalver. He won his second-round contest 21-17 21-10, taking 36 minutes to complete the job.

Prannoy and Sen will face each other in an all-Indian clash tomorrow.

However, last edition’s runners-up Kidambi Srikanth crashed out after a straight-game defeat to world No. 32 Zhao Jun Peng. He went down to the Chinese 18-21 17-21 in a match that lasted only 34 minutes.

Earlier, the men’s doubles pair of MR Arjun and Dhruv Kapila moved into the pre-quarterfinals. The unseeded duo upstaged Kim Astrup and Anders Skaarup Rasmussen of Denmark 21-17 21-16. The eighth-seeded pair of Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy thrashed Guatemala’s Solis Jonathan and Anibal Marroquin 21-8 21-10 to storm into the Round of 16.

In the women’s doubles, Ashwini Ponnappa and N Sikki Reddy made a second-round exit. They lost 15-21 10-21 to top seeds Chen Qing Chen and Jia Yi Fan of China in 42 minutes. Pooja Dandu and Sanjana Santosh went down 15-21 7-21 to the third-seeded South Korean pair Lee So Hee and Shin Seung Chan.

Stumbling Srikanth

The 29-year-old Srikanth was out of sorts in the opening game as it took only 12 minutes for Peng to take a 1-0 lead in the match.

On the back foot, Srikanth tried to up the ante in the second game and led 16-14 but numerous unforced errors helped Peng secure victory.

Sen’s encounter was in stark contrast to Srikanth’s. After trailing 3-4 in the first game, the ninth-seeded Sen sprinted to a 13-7 lead. The Indian maintained the six-point lead and comfortably wrapped up the first game.

In the second game, the first six points were shared between the two players, but the 21-year-old Indian pulled ahead with his superior play.

With Sen enjoying a massive nine-point lead at one stage, it was only a matter of time before he completed the job.

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