World Badminton Championships: Prannoy upsets Lin Dan; Praneeth advances

HYDERABAD: HS Prannoy packed off five-time world champion Lin Dan 21-11, 13-21, 21-7 in the second round, thereby, causing a minor upset at the BWF World Championships in Basel on Tuesday. The exit of Super Dan was not surprising as the legend is not considered a force anymore.
Sai Praneeth joined Prannoy in the pre-quarterfinals with an impressive victory against Dong Keun Lee of Korea 21-16, 21-15.Playing an aggressive game against a player known for solid defence, Praneeth, targeted the backhand side of the Korean to pull off a straight games victory. He hardly allowed Lee to play his trademark rally game.
Incidentally, this is the third victory for Prannoy against the two-time Olympic champion five meetings. Prannoy started off with a 6-2 lead in the first game. He moved to 10-3 and dominated the contest from then on. However, Lin Dan recovered well in the second game. He moved ahead of the Indian from 10-8 to 14-8 and even as the Indian was struggling to come terms with the sudden onslaught, Lin Dan wrapped up the game at 21-13 to push the contest into the decider.

Surprisingly, the veteran lost steam in the decider and looked helpless as the hard hitting Prannoy won points with ease. From 6-5, Prannoy came up with an eight-point burst to race to 14-5. And with another five straight points he moved to 19-6 to snuff out Lin Dan.
Prannoy will play reigning world champion Kento Momota, who thrashed Luis Enrique Penalver of Spain 21-10, 21-7 in the second round. Momota enjoys a 4-0 win-loss record against Prannoy but the latter has a reputation of upsetting several top shuttlers in the past.
Prannoy said that he was cautious despite leading against Lin Dan. "Starting and ending was really good. In the second game the strategy probably went the opposite way. Thanks to the coaches I had to change a couple of points. I am really happy that I was patient, I was ready for a long match as the shuttles are not so fast. He is always a tough player. We can't take him granted at any stage of match, that was running in my mind, I was really cautious that this should not slip away," Prannoy told the BWF website.
On facing Momota, he said that he is looking forward to the match as he needs to prove something. "The draw was tough, yesterday also I had a tough match. I am looking forward to Momota as there are somethings which I need to prove and I think this is the event I need to. I know I am a big tournament player, probably, day after might be a good day," Prannoy said.
In the women's doubles, the Indian pair of Ashwini Ponappa N Sikki Reddy got a walkover from Chinese Taipei's Chang Ching Hui and Yang Ching Tun in their opening match. They will face seventh seeded Chinese pair of Du Yue and LI Yin Hui in the second round.
The men's doubles pairing of Manu Attri and Sumeeth Reddy beat the French duo of Thom Gicquel and Ronan Labar 21-13, 21-13 in a first round match.