Prannoy enters second round of Badminton World Championship

Indian shuttler HS Prannoy stormed into the men’s singles second round of the World Championships with a straight-game win over Finland’s Kole Koljonen, here on Monday. World No. 9 Prannoy had reached the quarterfinals in the last two seasons of the World Championship. He defeated Koljonen in straight games 24–22, 21–10.

This is Prannoy’s third win in three matches against the Finnish player. Koljonen gave Prannoy a tough fight in the opening game but the Indian won the second game in a lopsided fashion to clinch the match. In the first game, Koljonen started well with an 8-4 lead over Prannoy.

Prannoy then made a comeback to take a three-point (11-8) lead at the break. Even after the break, there was a fierce competition between the two players where neither player was giving the other a chance to score points easily. Koljonen won three game points but Prannoy kept his composure and came back well by defending all three game points.

She once again stopped Koljonen from squandering a game point with a brilliant use of her backhand. Prannoy then hit the shuttle over the net to give the Finnish player a 22-21 lead. Koljonen, however, failed to capitalize and the Indian won the game by scoring three consecutive points. The start of the second game was also a tight contest between the two players but Prannoy took a 6-5 lead and made it 11-5 at the break.

Prannoy kept the pressure on Koljonen even after the break and grabbed 12 match points. Prannoy failed to convert the first match point but then sealed the match with a brilliant smash. India’s mixed doubles pair of Rohan Kapoor and N Sikki Reddy suffered a first round defeat. The Indian pair was defeated 21-14, 20-22, 21-18 by the Scottish pair of Julie McPherson and Adam Hall.

Disclaimer: IndiaTheNews has not edited this news. This news has been published from PTI-language feed.