In a hard-fought battle at the Taipei Open 2023, India's hopes came to an end as their lone shuttler, HS Prannoy, suffered a defeat against the formidable Angus Ng Ka Long of Hong Kong in the quarterfinal match on Friday.
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Prannoy, the talented Indian shuttler, who claimed the Malaysia Masters Super 300 title last month, has enjoyed a good run recently. Last week, he put up an impressive display at the Indonesia Open, a Super 1000 tournament. He made it to the semifinals, where he lost to world No.1 and eventual winner Viktor Axelsen of Denmark.
In a match where the Hong Kong shuttler dominated the most, especially in the second game, Prannoy looked out of sorts and failed to put up a fight to take the match into the decider. The Indian took an early 3-0 lead in the first game. He entered the break with a healthy lead of 11-9. However, Angus fought his way back and closed in the gap to take the lead at 20-19. Soon the Hong Kong player won the first game 21-19.
Having squandered the advantage, Prannoy was under the pump in the second game. Angus kept picking crucial points with an attacking game. From leading 18-17 in the opening game, Prannoy kept losing points. He conceded a huge deficit to allow his opponent take control of the game.
As the game progressed, Angus made light work and smashed his way to a huge win and enter the Taipei Open 2023 semifinal.
Earlier, Prannoy waltzed into the quarterfinal after recording a comfortable straight-game win over Indonesia's Tommy Sugiarto. Prannoy, the country's top-ranked men's singles player, took 36 minutes to dispatch former world championship bronze medallist Sugiarto 21-9, 21-17 in the BWF World Tour Super 300 tournament. However, in the quarterfinal, the world number nine failed to replicate his group stage success.