Returning to action after recovering from a back injury, star India shuttler HS Prannoy emerged as the lone Indian survivor at the Japan Masters, advancing to the second round with a gritty win here on Wednesday. (Badminton News)
The 31-year-old, who played with back pain en route to Asian Games bronze medal in his last outing, outsmarted Lee Cheuk Yiu of Hong Kong 22-20 19-21 21-17 in a 64-minute opening round clash at the Super 500 event.
Prannoy made a good start, taking a 11-6 lead at the first mid-game interval. Lee, however, managed to bring claw back at 14-14 but the Indian held his fort despite relentless pressure to eventually seal the opening game by the narrowest of margin.
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Prannoy took the momentum to the second game, zooming to 14-8 but the world No. 18 from Hong Kong drew parity at 17-17 and this time went the distance with Prannoy falling into a pool of errors.
The gritty Indian however didn't let the reversal affect him as he recovered from 5-8 behind to turn the tables at 13-11 and then keep his nose ahead despite a fighting Lee to win the decider and the match.
Lakshya, Priyanshu Rajawat Out
Lakshya Sen, who had won the Canada Open this year, and Orleans Master winner Priyanshu Rajawat had a bad day in office as they bowed out of the tournament after falling short in their opening match.
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Sen, world no. 17, couldn't go past Japan’s Kodai Naraoka, losing 17-21 10-21 to the world no. 5, while Rajawat lost 15-21 12-21 to Chinese Taipei’s Lin Chun-Yi.
The men's doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty had lost their opening round match on Tuesday.
