New Delhi: Young Indian shuttler H.S. Prannoy created the biggest upset of the Yonex Sunrise India Open when he outplayed top seed and tournament favourite Jan O Jorgensen to advance into the quarter-finals here on Thursday.
At a high-octane match played at the Siri Fort stadium, World No.17 Prannoy played some punishing rallies to defeat the Danish World No.2 18-21 21-14 21-14.
Olympic champion Lin Dan cruised into the last eight stage with a 21-13, 21-16 win over Hu Yun of Hong Kong.
Women’s top seed Saina Nehwal got the better of birthday girl Ruthvika Shivani, who is also the current national champion. The World No.2 beat the 18-year-old 21-16, 21-17.
Men’s second seed and World No.4 Kidambi Srikanth defeated Japanese World No.15 Kento Momota 21-12, 15-21, 21-15. However, Commonwealth Games champion Parupalli Kashyap’s campaign was halted by Xue Song of China, who won 21-17, 21-11. The lone Indian challenge in women’s doubles also ended with the defeat of the spirited pair of Kuhoo Garg and Ningshi Hazarika, who lost to seventh seed Chinese pair Bao Yixin and Tang Jinhua 4-21, 6-21.
Denmark’s Jorgensen was clearly struggling to find answers to the fast pace of Prannoy’s game, but said that the “best player won” this match.
Though five-time World champion China’s Dan and India’s Saina Nehwal were playing on adjacent courts, the crowd was totally focused on the Prannoy-Jorgensen battle.
Jorgensen started off aggressively in the first game though Prannoy, who has won the Vietnam Open and Indonesia Masters in 2014, matched him point-for-point.
Both the towering players were hitting the shuttle all over the court and tested each other’s capabilities. (IANS)
