HS Prannoy goes down in final to settle for second place at Australian Open

India's star shuttler HS Prannoy on Sunday went down in the final of the Australian Open Super 500 tournament. The  Indian World number 9 lost the summit clash to China's world number 24 Weng Hong Yang in three games 9-21 23-21 20-22 at State sports center in Sydney. Prannoy had a rollercoaster outing as he made a thumping comeback and then squandered a big lead in the decider to lose a 90-minute thrilling finale.

Prannoy began the game on a disappointing note. He suffered a 9-21 drubbing in the finale against his Mayalsia Masters final opponent. But the Indian star came back roaring into the contest. He clinched a nail-biter second set to force the game into the decider. The 31-year-old Indian held a 19-14 lead in the decider but gave away his advantage and a  championship point at 20-19 to end up on the wrong side.

This was Prannoy and Hong Yang's second meeting, the first one was at the Mayalsia Masters earlier in



the year. Prannoy won the showdown clash in Malaysia in three sets. Coming into this tournament, the 31-year-old edged past several opponents on his road to the final. All his games went into deciding sets except the semifinal. He edged past C Y Lee in the round of 32 before cruising past Y Chi in the pre-quarterfinal. Prannoy fended off A Ginting's fight in the quarterfinal and then held his compatriot Priyanshu Rajawat in the last-four clash to book a final berth.

India's top shuttler HS Prannoy secured a place in the final of the Australian Open Super 500 2023 with a win over Rajawat in two straight sets of 21-18, 21-12 to reach his second final of this year.

The 31-year-old badminton star from Delhi failed to progress into the finals of the last five tournaments he played in. He even failed to reach the last-four round at Japan Open and Korea Open last month having last played in the final of the Malaysia Open in May 2023.