Prannoy shocks Dane Jorgensen

When not injured, HS Prannoy possesses the heart and game to take on the best in world badminton. In one such performance, the 22-year-old caused a flutter in the ongoing Yonex Sunrise India Open when he upset the top seed and World No 2 Jan O Jorgensen 18-21, 21-14, 21-14 in the second round at the Siri Fort Sports Complex on Thursday.

Tempers, too, flared in the fast-paced, draining, and intense contest which saw even a normally sedate P Gopichand losing his cool.

“The conditions were good for me. I could attack well and was putting pressure on him (Jorgensen). He doesn't like my style of game,” said Pronnoy, who has beaten Jorgensen in 2013 Japan Open. He now plays sixth-seeded Viktor Alexen in the quarterfinals.

After a close first game, Prannoy returned with a change of tactics. He tried to go a little soft on his returns and didn’t loft the shuttle too high. More importantly, he pinned Jorgensen to his weaker side -- the backhand. That gave him control and once he took a slender 8-9 lead in the second game, there was no looking back for him. He carried the momentum in the decider and kept the lead despite a brief comeback from the Dane.

When leading 13-11, Prannoy’s return fell on the sideways. The linesman called it in but the chair umpire overruled it, thus awarding the point to the Dane. By the time Prannoy decided to challenge, the umpire found he had run out of the time. A livid Gopichand sprang from his chair and asked Prannoy not to play the point before calming down.

With crowd raising the decibels, Jorgensen, shaking his head, only spewed more errors from his racquet and was soon on his way back after the 52-minute contest. “It was really an aggressive match, both by coach and Prannoy, and even audience. That was really not my style of game. I didn’t like the reaction from Gopichand. But it was an intense game. All credit to Prannoy,” said Jorgensen.

However, Parupalli Kashyap’s run in the tournament was ended by China’s Xue Song 21-17, 21-11. But second-seeded K Srikanth advanced taming Japan’s Kento Momota 21-12, 15-21, 21-15. Lin Dan, too, cruised into the quarterfinals with a 21-13, 21-16 win over Hu Yun of Hong Kong.

In the women’s singles, top seed Saina Nehwal got the better of birthday girl and national champion Ruthvika Shivani 21-16, 21-17 while second-seeded Carolina Marin defeated Ya Ching Hsu of Chinese Taipei 21-16, 21-13 to enter the quarterfinals.


Results: Men: Singles: HS Prannoy bt 1-Jan O Jorgensen (Den) 18-21, 21-14, 21-14; 8-Tommy Sugiarto (Ina) bt Nan Wei (Hkg) 21-12, 21-13; 6-Viktor Axelsen (Den) bt Yu Hsien Lin (Tpe) 21-10, 21-12; Xue Song (Chn) bt Parupalli Kashyap 21-17, 21-11; 3-Lin Dan (Chn) bt Yun Hu 21-13, 21-16;  Takuma Ueda (Jpn) bt 7-Zhengming Wang 21-16, 21-19; 2-K Srikanth bt Kento Momota 21-12, 15-21, 21-15; RMV Gurusaidutt bt Sameer Verma 18-21, 21-19, 21-18.   
 
Doubles: 4-Liu Xiaolong/Qiu Zihan (Chna) bt Tarun Kona/Santosh Ravuri 21-12, 21-11; 1-Mathias Boe/Carsten Mogensen (Den) bt Alwin Francis/Arun Vishnu 21-16, 21-18.
Women: Singles: 1-Saina Nehwal bt Ruthvika Shivani 21-16, 21-17; Yui Hashimoto (Jpn) bt Riya Pillai 21-6, 21-14; Hana Ramadhini (Ina) bt 8-Yu Po Pai (Tpe) 21-18, 16-21, 21-15; Yao Xue (Chn) bt 5-Minatsu Mitani 21-15, 21-10; 2-Carolina Marin (Esp) bt Ya Ching Hsu (Tpe) 21-16, 21-13; 6-Nozomi Okuhara (Jpn) bt Chi Ya Cheng (Tpe) 21-14, 21-16; 7-Pui Yin Yip (Hkg) bt Hyo Min Kim (Kor) 21-19, 13-21, 21-15; 3-Ratchanok Intanon (Thai) bt Adrianti Firdasari (Ina) 21-16, 21-12.

Doubles: 7-Yixin Bao/Jinhua Tang (Chn) bt Kuhoo Garg/Ningshi Hazarika 21-4, 21-6.