Indian shuttler HS Prannoy defeated Ka Long Angus Ng of Hong Kong 21-11,21-18 to book his place in the quarter-final of the Indonesia Open Super 1000 tournament on Thursday.
Continuing his rich vein of form with his straight-game win, the 29-year-old from Kerala is desperately looking to break his five-year title drought. Prannoy dished out another impressive performance to outwit Ng Long in a second-round match that lasted 41 minutes.
The 29-year old Prannoy settled early and kept his higher-ranked opponent on toes from the start, countering Long’s speed efficiently with precise returns.
The shuttler from Hong Kong began the second game with much more intent and used the space well before Prannoy took back the momentum after being tied at 7-7. The Indian then sealed the second game and match in 41 minutes.
It was Prannoy’s fourth win over the 27-year-old, who is currently ranked 12th in the world.
A former top 10 player, Prannoy will next face either Denmark’s Rasmus Gemke.
“The second game was close. He found his A game towards the end. But overall I think I played really well today. Apart from the last few points, I think I was playing at my best,” Prannoy was quaoted assaying by BWF.
“I’m pleased with the way I’ve been doing for the past few months. Especially after the Thomas Cup there has been positive energy in the entire camp, which has made it easier for me to work. But I think I need to get better, I need to reach finals of tournaments. That’s where my improvement lies,” he added.
Sameer Verma ended his campaign with a straight-game loss to world number five Lee Zii Jia of Malaysia in the second round.
The 27-year-old, a former world no. 11, went down 10-21 13-21 to sixth seeded Lee in a 43-minute men’s singles match.
This was Sameer’s fifth loss to Lee in seven meetings.
Ashwini Ponnappa and N Sikki Reddy also bowed out of the tournament after losing 16-21 13-21 to top seeds Chen Qing Chen and Jia Yi Fan of China in women’s doubles competition.
Meanwhile, the men’s doubles pair of MR Arjun and Dhruv Kapila lost to China’s Liu Yu Chen and Ou Xuan Yi 19-21, 15-21 in their round of 16 match.
Other Indian top players PV Sindhu, Lakshya Sen and Kidambi Srikanth suffered first-round defeats and made an early exit from the Indonesia Open 2022
(With inputs from Agencies)
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