World Championship: HS Prannoy assures India a medal, Satwik and Chirag lose in quarterfinals

Copenhagen. H S Prannoy came out with a spirited performance to beat defending two-time champion Viktor Axelsen of Denmark in a 68-minute quarter-final clash to assure India a medal at the World Badminton Championships here on Friday. Prannoy beat world number one Axelsen 13-1 in this thrilling encounter. 21, 21. 15, 21. 16 beat.

After making sure of his first medal, he said, “Yes. After all, I will now have a World Championship medal.” Axelsen was playing in front of his home crowd, so the pressure was immense on Prannoy. He said, “I thought I could control myself at least. Wasn’t thinking of anything else. The only thing in mind was how to get the next five points.

The 31-year-old Prannoy from Kerala continued India’s golden run at the World Championships, ensuring the country’s 14th medal. He has won the Malaysia Masters Super 500 tournament and finished runner-up in the Australian Open Super 500 this season. Two-time Olympic medalist PV Sindhu has won five medals in the World Championship for India, including the gold she got in 2019. Saina Nehwal won one silver and one bronze, Kidambi Srikanth won silver, Lakshya Sen, B Sai Praneeth and Prakash Padukone won bronze.

Meanwhile, the Indian pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty lost in straight games to Denmark’s Kim Astrup and Anders Skarup Rasmussen in the men’s doubles quarterfinals. The world number two Indian pair had won their first bronze medal at the event last year. The Indian pair, however, could not match their attacking game against the 11th seeded local pair and lost 18-21, 19-21 in a 48-minute match. Earlier in the seven matches between the two pairs, the pair of Satwik and Chirag had managed to win two matches. Both the pairs were facing each other for the first time after 2021.

The 2021 Badminton World Championship bronze medalist Danish pair prevented the Indian pair from finding momentum from the start of the match. The Danish pair took a 5-1 lead early in the match. The Indian pair hit the net on Astrup’s serve on several occasions. Astrup and Rasmussen extended their lead to 11–6. The Indian pair then made a comeback to make it 15-18. Chirag then gave away four game points to the Danish players by serving badly.

The Indian players defended two game points but missed the third. Similar situations were seen once again in the second game as well. The pace of Astrup and Rasmussen had no answer to the pair of Satwik and Chirag. The Indian pair was trailing 4-6 and 7-11 at the interval. The Indian pair did a bit better. The pair leveled at 15-15 thanks to Chirag’s brilliant smashes and serves. On Astrup’s cross, Satwik played the shuttle into the net as the Danish pair denied the Indians any chance to make a comeback after taking the lead. The pair of Astrup and Rasmussen grabbed two match points. She was able to convert her second match point. Prannoy had a 2. against Axelsen before this match. 7 was the record. Both players looked nervous in the beginning but Axelsen scored 5. Made a lead of 2.

Prannoy’s shot hits the net twice 9. 2’s done. After this, Axelsen scored 16 . Took an increase of 11. He took the next point quickly to take the first game. In the second game, Prannoy changed the tempo of the rallies. Their defense was also better but they were unable to finish, which allowed Axelsen to take the lead. Prannoy made a quick comeback to score 7. 7 done. Prannoy took advantage of some poor returns from Axelsen. After the break, he played brilliantly and scored 18. Made a lead of 11. Axelsen’s shot went into the net and here Prannoy scored six game points to seal the game. In the deciding game too, it was an even match initially but Prannoy took 11 . Made a lead of 6. They maintained their lead even after the break and came up with some excellent shots to win a hard-fought match.

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

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