Lagtar24 Desk
New Delhi, June 16: HS Prannoy, one of the heroes of India’s spectacular Thomas Cup victory, extended victory streak on Thursday, storming into the quarterfinals of the Indonesia Open Super 1000 competition with a straight-game win against Hong Kong’s Ng Ka Long Angus.
The 29-year-old from Kerala, who is anxious to end his five-year title drought, put in yet another strong performance to defeat Ng Long 21-11 21-18 in a 41-minute second-round encounter.
Prannoy defeated the 27-year-old, who is presently ranked 12th in the world, for the fourth time. Prannoy, a former top-10 player, will face either Rasmus Gemke of Denmark or Brice Leverdez of France in the next round.
Meanwhile, China’s Liu Yu Chen and Ou Xuan Yi defeated MR Arjun and Dhruv Kapila 19-21 15-21 in the men’s doubles.
In the first half of the first game of the men’s singles competition, Prannoy dominated the proceedings, taking the lead early to lead 11-3 with a spectacular cross court jump smash.
After the break, Prannoy became unpredictable, and his unforced errors allowed Ng Long to gain a few points before the Indian unleashed another cross-court smash and made some great baseline judgments to keep moving forward.
Prannoy’s movement was fluid, as he mixed up the shots and adjusted the speed nicely, and with his opponent making mistakes, he was able to comfortably close out the match. With a precise smash, he advanced to nine game point opportunities and secured it as his opponent went to the net.
In the second game, Ng Long improved his movement and was able to stay on the rallies better, but Prannoy performed well to retain his lead at 9-7 with a return on his opponent’s backhand corner.
After the Hong Kong player went wide again, he had a two-point lead at the halftime break. The Indian’s lead had grown to 16-11. Ng Long had a few wins, but he was too unpredictable, as Prannoy wriggled out again with another leap smash.
Prannoy was awarded four match points after a crisp return on the baseline. He wasted two chances before converting the third with a powerful smash after a fantastic rally.
