Prannoy toppled top-seeded Saurabh Verma in the quarterfinals and Sai Praneeth in the semifinals of the Bank of India all-India senior ranking badminton tournament at the KBA courts here on Monday.
The tough Kerala shuttler did see a dip in his game midway through but recovered well in time to get past the hurdle enroute to his final stint.
The slowness of the shuttle and his opponent's tactics did get to Prannoy but the 18-year-old recovered well in time to steady his defence and drill holes in Sai Praneet's defence to win in three hard-fought games.
ADVERTISEMENT
Against Sai Praneet the Kerala player did get into a tangle with some sloppy work midway through the second game and in the early part of the decider. But he bounced back, thanks to a couple of negatives from the Andhra Pradesh player.
P.V. Sindhu covered the court better and tamed Thulasi with some steep smashes that brooked no response.
The sub-junior National champion looked better equipped in the longer rallies against the Kerala player and used her reach to good effect at the net.
ADVERTISEMENT
The results:
Men's singles: Semifinals: H.S. Prannoy (Ker) bt Sai Praneet (AP) 21-19, 18-21, 21-14; Nanda Gopal (AP) bt Sameer Verma (AI) 21-15, 21-11.
Quarterfinals: Sameer Verma (AI) bt Eshan Naqvi 21-13, 23-21; Nanda Gopal (AP) bt Prakash Jolly (Kar) 21-13, 21-16; Prannoy bt Saurabh Verma (MP) 27-25, 15-21, 21-16; Sai Praneeth bt Aditya Prakash (Kar) 22-20, 21-13.
Men's doubles: (Quarterfinals): Sunjith & Ram C. Vijay bt Deepak Khatri & Akshit Mahajan 21-13, 21-14; Bennet Antony & Alwin Francis bt Mohit Kamat & Venkatesh Prasad 21-13, 21-14; Akshay Dewalkar & Arun Vishnu bt Pratik Patel & Aditya Prakash 21-18, 21-13; Sai Praneeth & Pranav Chopra bt T. Hemanagendra Babu & Srikanth 28-26, 22-20.
Women's singles: Semifinals: Neha Pandit (Mah) bt Sayali Gokhale (AI) 17-6 (conceded); P.V. Sindhu (AAI) bt P.C. Thulashi (Ker) 21-13, 21-16.
Quarterfinals: Thulasi bt Poorvisha (Kar) 21-12, 21-8; Sindhu (AP) bt Jacqueline Rose Kunnath (Kar) 21-17, 21-13; Sayali Gokhale bt Anita Ohlan 21-11, 22-20; Neha Pandit bt Daya Elsa Jacob 18-21, 21-10, 21-18.
Mixed doubles: (Quarterfinals): Arun Vishnu & Aparna Balan bt Srikanth & Jyotshna 21-16, 14-21, 21-10; Suraj & Megha Merin Ninan bt Guru Prasad & Nischitha 21-11, 27-25; Akshay Dewalkar & Pradnya Gadre bt Alwin Francis & Shruti Kurien 21-19, 21-23, 21-17; Pranav Chopra & Prajakta Sawant bt Adarsh Kumar & Varsha Belawadi 16-21, 21-15, 21-12.