HS Prannoy performed some good strokes, says chief coach Pullela Gopichand | Badminton Information – Occasions of India

HS Prannoy suffered a heart-breaking loss after squandering a vital five-point lead within the third sport in opposition to Weng Hong Yang of China 9-21, 23-21, 20-22 within the ultimate of the Australian Open BWF Tremendous-500 event in Sydney on Sunday.

Luck abandoned Prannoy at essential moments as he put up an excellent struggle in opposition to Weng. Main 14-19 within the third sport, Prannoy made a few errors to permit the Chinese language to cut back the hole to 16-19. At this second each gamers have been concerned within the longest rally of the match (71 pictures).
Throughout this rally, Prannoy fired three highly effective smashes. On many of the days they’d simply earn factors however not at present as Weng discovered a option to retrieve all three – two of them by diving to his excessive left and one was a physique smash. A rattled Prannoy hit the shuttle into the online as Weng scored his fourth straight level. This rally swung the momentum in Weng’s favour and the Chinese language capitalised on it.

Although upset, chief coach Pullela Gopichand mentioned that Prannoy didn’t do something mistaken. “It was a detailed match. He performed very effectively in direction of the tip, enjoying some good strokes. Prannoy didn’t do something mistaken, it was his opponent who performed effectively,” Gopichand mentioned, including that Prannoy was fairly good within the final three weeks.

“Nonetheless, the final three weeks has been unbelievable for him. He did effectively in some shut matches in opposition to prime opponents. His match in opposition to Viktor (Axelsen) was very shut. He was fairly good within the final three weeks. He grew to become very aggressive and it augurs effectively for him forward of huge tournaments like World Championships, Asian Video games and China Open,” Gopichand mentioned.
Prannoy and different Indians have a few weeks to organize for the World Championships to be held in Denmark later this month.
Priyanshu might not make it to Worlds
Regardless of enhancing rather a lot in the previous few months, Orleans Masters champion Priyanshu Rajawat might not qualify for the Worlds as Lakshya Sen and Kidambi Srikanth fill the three males’s singles slots from India. The 21-year-old is in reserves.

Gopichand had a phrase of reward for Priyanshu, who reached the semifinals in Sydney.
“I’m glad for Priyanshu. He was superb. It isn’t solely the outcomes however the best way he progressed and tailored himself was fairly spectacular,” Gopichand mentioned.
Zhang wins ladies’s singles
Beiwen Zhang of USA defeated seventh seed Kim Ga Eun of South Korea 20-22, 21-16, 21-Eight to win the ladies’s singles title.
Different ultimate outcomes (Males’s doubles): Kang Min/Web optimization Seung (Kor) bt Takuro Hoki/Yugo Kobyashi (Jpn) 21-17, 21-17.
Girls’s doubles: Kim So Yeong/Kong Hee Yong (Kor) bt Liu Sheng Shu/Tan Ning (Chn) 21-18, 21-16.
Combined: Feng Yan Zhe/Huang Dong (Chn) bt Hiroki Midorikawa/Natsu Saito (Jpn) 21-14, 16-21, 21-15.