Picture Credit: Twitter
Indian badminton star HS Prannoy suffered a hard-fought quarter-final loss against China's Jun Peng Zhao as his dream run at the BWF World Championships ended on Friday. The 30-year-old couldn’t hold on to his opening game advantage and an 11-10 lead in the third game to again cap off his campaign in the quarters, following his last eight finish in Spain in 2021.
Playing on court two, the Indian built on his momentum as he build pressure from the beginning, and continued his good run of form which helped him take down Lakshya Sen in the previous round. The shuttler looked unstoppable and ensured he capitalized on false shots from his opponent, winning the first game19-21.
The second set was extremely one-sided with Prannoy couldn’t keep up with Zhao as he gave away easy scoring opportunities. The Chinese made him pay for his mishaps and won the set, without having to put much effort with a score line of 21-6.
The deciding set was a close-knit bout with long and gruelling rallies, powerful smashes and netplay pushing both the shuttlers to the limit. It took a lot from the Chinese to advance to the next round as Prannoy gave his everything. In the final moments of the set, Zhao proved his worth and overtook the Indian to secure a medal in the tournament.
After the match, Prannoy opened up about how he lost the fixture as he said, “He started to play better from the second game and in the first half of the third game he was able to move swiftly, better than me, and catch the shuttle high,” said the Indian.
“It’s a good tournament for me. I would’ve loved to be on the podium, but that’s how it is. Some days you need to work a bit harder. I’m really happy that I did better than last year. I’m in pretty good shape physically and mentally. Last year I lost in the quarterfinals, so I’m happy to make the semifinals.”
HS Prannoy also thanked his fans on Twitter as he said, “This one will hurt for a while. Gave my all today but was not enough to get into the World Championships podium once again. Proud of the way I played this week.Thanks for all the support.”