Indian beats legendary Chinese in 3 games, to face No. 1 Momota in pre-quarters
Long matches back-to-back can leave a badminton player completely drained.
India's 30th-ranked HS Prannoy had a three-game first-round win over Finland's Eetu Heino on Monday. On Tuesday, he faced the daddy of World Championships, five-time winner Lin Dan of China and took an hour and two minutes to defeat the 11th seed in yet another three games. Prannoy's 21-11 13-21 21-7 win in the second round of the BWF World Championships in Basel will see him face world No. 1 Kento Momoto of Japan in the pre-quarterfinals on Wednesday.
The day also saw B Sai Praneeth enter the round of 16, defeating Korea's Lee Dong Keun 21-16 21-15 in a match that lasted four minutes short of an hour.
Prannoy, participating in his third World Championships, will look to produce his best performance at this premier tournament, after having exited in the round of 32 last year and in the pre-quarterfinals in 2015.
He knows Momota is not easy, having lost all the four previous head-to-heads dating back to 2013 Denmark Open.
"The draw was looking tough from the start. Yesterday also I had a tough match. Against Momota, there are some things I need to prove. This is the event which I need to make them believe that I am big tournament player," said Prannoy post his victory against Lin Dan on Tuesday, still the disappointment of being ignored for the Arjuna awards clear in his voice.
Entering Tuesday's second round match against the all-time great Lin Dan with a 2-2 win-loss record in the previous four encounters, Prannoy took an early lead after first initial exchange of services. From 1-2 down, he won five consecutive points to take an unassailable 6-2 lead. The lead only widened as Prannoy caught the 35-year-old Chinese off guard with his wide range of shots and placements. Prannoy won 21-11.
But in the second game, the Indian was not in his elements, fighting it out till the breather, trailing 8-11. Lin Dan walked away 21-13 winner.
But, a rejuvenated rectified his mistakes from the second game to jump to 6-4 lead in the third and dominated the Chinese, winning eight consecutive points at one stage, from 6-5 to 14-5. It was only a matter of time before the Indian secured his last-16 berth.
In Prannoy's words: "The starting and ending was really good for me. In the second game, the strategy did not go as per plan. I knew I had to be patient and was ready for a long match, especially after Monday's match. I knew it would be tough today."
Win against Lin Dan always gives Prannoy the satisfaction. "He is always a tough player. He has been playing for 20 years, has experience in big events, especially in these conditions where the shuttles are slow, the courts are big. The atmosphere is big. He is a big player. You cannot take him for granted.
"After leading 11-5 in the third game, I was cautious and said to myself, 'this should not slip away' and that I needed to be really focussed on the next points, and not think of the win. That helped. I need to do this on an everyday basis and, not just with Lin Dan," Prannoy said.
Sindhu, Saina begin today
Meanwhile, Indian women star shuttlers Saina Nehwal and PV Sindhu begin their campaign on Wednesday after receiving first-round byes.
While Sindhu, seeded fifth in the world, faces Chinese Taipei's Yo Po Pai, eighth seed Saina will face the winner of the Sabrina Jaquet (Switzerland)-Soraya de Visch Eijbergen (Netherlands).
Results (Indians only):
Men's singles: 2nd round: HS Prannoy bt 11-Lin Dan (CHN) 21-11 13-21 21-7, 16-B Sai Praneeth bt Lee Dong Keun (KOR) 21-16 21-15; 1st round (Monday): 10-Sameer Verma lost to Loh Kean Yew (SIN) 21-15 15-21 10-21
Men's doubles (Rd 1): Manu Attri/ B Sumeeth Reddy bt Thom Gicquel/ Ronan Labar (FRA) 21-13 21-13, Arun George/ Sanyam Shukla lost to Takuto Inoue/ Yuki Kaneko (JPN) 18-21 11-21
Women's doubles (Rd 1): Ashwini Ponnappa/ N Sikki Reddy bt Ching Hui Chang/ Ching Tun Yang (TPE) walkover, Pooja Dandu/ Sanjana Santosh lost to Hsu Ya Ching/ Hu Ling Fang (TPE) 15-21 14-21
Playing today:
Rd 3: HS Prannoy vs 1-Kento Momota (JPN, 16-B Sai Praneeth vs Anthony Sinisuka Ginting (INA)-Toby Penty (ENG)
Rd 2: 7-Kidambi Srikanth vs Misha Zilberman (ISR)
Men's doubles: (Rd 2): Manu Attri/ B Sumeeth Reddy vs 6-Cheng Kai Han/ Hao Dong Zhou (CHN)
Women's singles (Rd 2): 5-PV Sindhu vs Yu Po Pai (TPE), 8-Saina Nehwal vs w/o Sabrina Jaquet (SUI)-Soraya de Visch Eijbergen (NED)
Women's doubles (Rd 2): Jakkampudi Meghana/ Poorvisha S Ram vs 8-Shiho Tanaka/ Koharu Yonemoto (JPN), Ashwini Ponnappa/ N Sikki Reddy vs 7-Yue Du/ Yin Hui Li (CHN)
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