H.S. Prannoy has waited long enough to make his presence felt on the big stage. Since making the 2010 world junior semifinals, Prannoy has steadily climbed the ranking ladder. But, last year’s triumphs in the Indonesian Masters and Tata International were pushed into the background due to the meteoric rise of his fellow trainees from the Gopi Chand Academy.
On Thursday, when ‘drift’ in the hall posed an added challenge to the players, Prannoy produced a performance to remember in the $275,000 India Open badminton. He stunned world No. 2 and top seed Jan O Jorgensen 18-21, 21-14, 21-14 in 57 minutes.
The young world No. 17 will now face another Danish player, sixth-seeded Victor Axelsen, for a place in the semifinals. Prannoy will be seeking to avenge his defeat at the China Open last November.
Though Prannoy had beaten O Jorgensen in the 2013 Japan Open in their only previous encounter, the Dane was still the favourite.
The Prannoy-Jorgensen match was not only fast-paced but also saw some unusual drama in the decider when a disputed point helped the Dane close the gap to 12-13.
After the Chair umpire overruled the line-judge, Prannoy wanted a review. However, he was told it was too late.
Chief coach Gopi Chand rush in to plead Prannoy’s case, but in vain.
“I didn’t hear the over-rule otherwise I wouldn’t have rushed in,” explained Gopi later. Prannoy, who led 9-3 at one point, could not prevent O Jorgensen from drawing level at 13. But thereafter, Prannoy’s grit and stepped-up aggression combined to earn him eight out of the nine points, including the last five, to close the contest.
The day also saw top seed Saina Nehwal and world champion Carolina Marin stay on course for their much-anticipated title-clash on Sunday.
Fifth-seeded Japanese Minatsu Mitani and the eighth seed from Chinese Taipei, Pai Yu Po, were shown the door.
For the host, the premature exit of P. Kashyap was a huge disappointment as he failed to deal with Xue Song, a qualifier here but ranked fifth in China. The 2012 world junior runner-up nailed an error-prone Kashyap 21-17, 21-11 in just 41 minutes.
Second seed K. Srikanth returned to winning ways against Kento Momoto after having lost to the Japanese in the All England Championship earlier in the month and brought their head-to-head score to 3-3.
The results: Men: H.S. Prannoy bt 1-Jan O Jorgensen (Den) 18-21, 21-14, 21-14; 6-Viktor Alexsen bt Lin Yu Hsien (Tpe) 21-10, 21-12; 3-Lin Dan (Chn) bt Hu Yun (Hkg) 21-13, 21-16; Tommy Sugiarto (Ina) bt Wei Van (Hkg) 21-12, 21-13; R.M.V. Gursaidutt bt Sameer Verma 18-21, 21-19, 21-18; Xue Song (Chn) bt P. Kashyap 21-17, 21-11; Takuma Ueda (Jpn) bt 7-Wang Zhengming (Chn) 21-16, 21-19; 2-K. Srikanth bt Kento Momota (Jpn) 21-12, 21-14, 21-14.
Women: 1-Saina Nehwal bt Ruthvika Shivani 21-16, 21-17; Hana Ramadhini (Ina) bt 8-Pai Yu Po (Tpe) 21-18, 16-21, 21-15; Yui Hashimoto (Jpn) bt Riya Pillai 21-6, 21-14; 7-Yip Piu Yin (Hkg) bt Kim Hyo Min (Kor) 21-19, 13-21, 21-15; Yao Xue (Chn) bt 5-Minatsu Mitani (Jpn) 21-15, 21-10; 3-Ratchanok Intanon (Tha) bt Adrianti Firdasari (Ina) 21-16, 21-12; 6-Nozomi Okuhara (Jpn) bt Cheng Chi Ya (Tpe) 21-14, 21-16; 2-Carolina Marin (Esp) bt Hsu Ya Ching (Tpe) 21-16, 21-13.
