Prannoy sealed 2017 US Open badminton title

World no. 17, H. S. Prannoy, clinched third grand prix gold title by beating Parupalli Kashyap in the US Open Grand Prix title by 21-15, 20-22, 21-12 in the All India final.

In the first game, it is Kashyap who took the lead till 6-1. After rebounding, Prannoy with his aggressive cross-court smashes he levelled the score at 12-12. It was a captivating game between players. Eventually, Prannoy sealed the game by 21-15.

The second game, initially, was heated up by Kashyap. He took the slender lead of 9-7. He extended his stretch to 14-10 even after the break. Here comes Prannoy, who starts his show in the second half of the game. By his comeback, he levelled the score at 18-18. And then 20-20. It was a neck-to-neck match. However, Kashyap hold his nerves to take the second game at 22-20.

In the decider game, Prannoy took the advantage of Kashyap’s error to take an early lead by 7-3. Kashyap could manage saving only five points leaving Prannoy to take the lead by 15-8. And, Prannoy ended the game with an ease at 21-12 to clinch the title.

In the finals, Prannoy defeated Vietnam’s Tien Minh Nguyen in the first semifinal by 21-14, 21-19. On the other hand, Kashyap stifled over to win against Korean Kwang Hee Heo in the second semifinals by 15-21, 21-15, 21-16 which lasted for one hour and sixteen minutes.

And this is the first final in 21 months for Kashyap.

“It was a good match, pretty intense match, a high quality match by both me and Kashyap. I think after losing the second game narrowly, I was calm and patient enough and it worked for me,” Prannoy told PTI.

“In second game, Kashyap was playing better than the first game. He was putting a lot of pressure on net and he was also finishing the lifts that I was producing, that made the whole difference.

“But in the third game, I changed my strategy a bit and I had a good lead. So yeah, overall happy with the tournament. Now I am looking forward to New Zealand Open,” he added.

Needless to say that, Prannoy struggled hard physically and mentally to comeback from his injuries. Since 2011, he had been in the side track due to injuries. He fought knee injury in 2011 and back injury in 2012. He reached the finals at the Tata Open 2013. Then semifinals at Bitburger, Syed Modi International, Macau and a final at Vietnam. Followed by a maiden Grand Prix Gold win at Indonesia on 2014.

Besides the serial injuries, he managed his world ranking of 12. He recovered slowly to win 2016 Swiss Open. Later as he experienced toe injury at Singapore Open, he had to miss the Thomas Cup. During Premier Badminton League this year, Knee injury and toe injury haunted him. With the enhanced fitness regime, he bounced back to reach semifinals at Indonesia Super Series Premier.

“I have been playing well, if the injuries are off then I am okay, I could not play well in Canada, as I had an inflammation in the tailbone area. Probably that did the damage in Canada,” he said.

“But I worked on it in the regular training and I am happy I could give my best here. I am not too disappointed with my losses at Australia and Canada as I know its part and parcel of the game.”