Prannoy misses out on season's 2nd title

PTI

Sydney, August 6

HS Prannoy capped off an impressive week with a runner-up finish at the Australian Open after his gallant fight ended in a heart-breaking loss to China’s Weng Hong Yang in a thrilling men’s singles final here today. Following a marathon 90 minutes of play, it was Prannoy who was left to bear the heartache as the 9-21 23-21 20-22 loss against world No. 24 Weng robbed him of a chance to win his second BWF title of the season.

With the win, the 24-year-old Weng settled the scores against Prannoy after going down in three games to the Indian at the Malaysia Masters final in May.

Six times this year, Prannoy has recovered from an opening-game loss to claim the match just like he did against world No. 2 Anthony Ginting in the quarterfinals. The script seemed to be going the same way before Weng staged a sensational comeback from 14-19 down in the decider. The 31-year-old Prannoy also squandered a championship point.

Prannoy was error-prone in the first game. With the Indian continuing to miscue his shots, the Chinese grabbed 12 game points before converting when Prannoy went long.

After initially trailing in the second game, Prannoy evened things at 7-7 and went into the lead. The Indian grabbed a three-point cushion. Trailing for long periods, Weng fought back to make it 19-19 before taking a medical timeout. On resumption, Prannoy wasted two game points before taking his third chance.

In the third game, Prannoy opened up a 6-3 lead and stayed ahead before letting the match slip away at 19-14. Weng won the next three points and then played an exhausting 71-shot rally as Prannoy sent the shuttle to the net before both the shuttlers collapsed to the court.

Weng showed nerves of steel as a superb drop helped him to claw back at 19-19.

Prannoy then won a net duel to grab a championship point but Weng saved the point with a lucky net cord. Weng then gained a championship point with a smash that crammed the Indian, who sent the shuttle long on the next point to hand over the title to Weng.

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