Indian shuttler Prannoy stuns olympics champion Victor Axelsen

Bali, November 18

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Indian shuttlers PV Sindhu, Kidambi Srikanth and HS Prannoy registered similar come-from-behind victories in their respective events to advance to the quarterfinals of the Indonesia Masters here today.

The highlight of the day was Prannoy’s stunning 14-21 21-19 21-16 upset victory over Tokyo Olympics gold medallist Victor Axelsen in a tense one hour 11 minutes battle in the men’s singles second round.

Down and out in the first game, Prannoy made a sensational recovery to first level the match and then eke out a memorable win against the world No. 2. On the other hand, former world No. 1 Srikanth, dispatched Indonesia’s sixth seed Jonatan Christie 13-21 21-18 21-15 in one hour and two minutes.

In the women’s singles, reigning world champion Sindhu, seeded third, took 47 minutes to record a 17-21 21-7 21-12 win over Spain’s Clara Azurmendi.

However, it was curtains for youngster Lakshya Sen in the men’s singles and the mixed doubles pairing of Dhruv Kapila and N Sikki Reddy.

The 20-year-old Lakshya went down 13-21 19-21 to the top seed Kento Momota of Japan in a 46-minute clash.

Kapila and Sikki lost 15-21 23-21 18-21 to Thai duo Supak Jomkoh and Supissara Paewsampran. The women’s doubles pair of Ashwini Ponnappa and N Sikki Reddy also crashed out. — PTI