New Delhi, Jan 13: World No. 7 Japanese Kodai Naraoka defeated India’s HS Prannoy in a gruelling three-game quarterfinal match at the Malaysia Open Super 750 badminton tournament in Kuala Lumpur on Friday.
Despite playing two lengthy matches in the earlier rounds, the 30-year-old from Kerala ran out of gas in the 84-minute encounter, falling 16-21 21-19 10-21 to the 21-year-old Naraoka. In as many encounters, Naraoka had defeated the Indian three times. At the World Tour Finals and Singapore Open last year, he had won in three games against Prannoy.
Prannoy recovered from the opening game reverse by hitting some crisp winners and displaying his deft touch at the net, but his younger rival was able to keep things under control in the championship match as the Indian fell to a barrage of unforced errors.
Prannoy had to fight extra hard to earn his points because Naraoka, who entered the match after defeating home favourites second seed Lee Zii Jia in 73 minutes and Ng Tze Yong in 72 minutes, displayed outstanding recovery.
As the two players demonstrated some magnificent retrieving in the exhausting rallies, the first game was tied at 7-7. At the half, Naroaka managed to squeeze out a two-point advantage and kept up the pressure to win the championship.
In the second game, Prannoy attempted to force his opponent into protracted rallies by using tosses, clears, and smashes as his finishing move. It briefly succeeded; he led 13-9, but when the Indian made a few mistakes, Naraoka tied the score with four straight points.
Despite Prannoy’s best efforts, Naraoka once more tied the score at 16-16 before taking the lead with a net kill. Prannoy’s towering smash was countered by a poor net return, keeping the score at 18-18.
However, the Indian was awarded two game points with a timely cross-court smash and accurate return. Before another amazing rally came to an end with the Japanese throwing out the shuttle and sending the match into overtime, Prannoy sent one wide.
The third game started on an even keel before Naraoka made two spectacular shots at the net to win a close rally and eke out a precarious 5-3 lead due to Prannoy’s foot injury.
After that, the Japanese won every rally with a variety of strokes, leaving Prannoy five points adrift at the half after making a line error.
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As the game progressed, Prannoy’s accuracy decreased as he missed the lines on both flanks, giving Naraoka the opportunity to increase his lead to 14-6. In the rallies, the Japanese exhibited greater patience and seized every chance to advance.
At 7-17, the Indian blasted a straight smash to end the run of points, but a listless Prannoy gave his adversary 12 match points with a series of blunders. In his third effort, Naraoka used a body smash to finish it.
