Prannoy storms into Malaysia Masters semi-final, Sindhu bows out

The Indian contingent is now left with only one representative.

The quarter-finals day of the Malaysia Master Super 500 saw the two Indian shuttlers PV Sindhu and H.S Prannoy fighting ways to book a semi-final berth. While Prannoy stormed into the semi-finals, Sindhu knocked out in a ‘frustrating’ battle.

This means that the Indian contention also ended in women’s singles, leaving Prannoy as the lone surivivor across all the disciplines.

Let’s have a look at the results that turned out on the quarterfinals day of the Malaysia Masters.

PV Sindhu ends up losing in a ‘frustrating’ way to Tai Tzu Ying.

Two-time Olympic medalist Pusarla Venkata Sindhu was up against her toughest opponent Tai Tzu Ying in the quarterfinal clash. The lanky Indian sought to avenge her last week’s defeat at the Malaysia Open which also came in the quarterfinals.

The World no.2 dominated right from the beginning as she pocketed a huge lead from her chosen end. Despite courageous efforts, Sindhu lost the first game 13-21.

In the second game, the former World champion made a solid cushion at 18-10. The Indian shuttler left no space for her opponent to come back as she won the game comfortably 21-12 to force the decider.

The deciding saw Sindhu having some great momentum as she was ahead by a minute margin at 7-4. The Taiwanese shuttler looked a bit nervous to Sindhu’s attacks at one point. However, Sindhu lost both her challenges and the lead, which changed the entire course of the game.

At the mid-game interval, it was the Olympic silver medalist who had the lead at 11-9. Although, the lead looked small, it turned out to be decisive for the Chinese Taipei shuttler, who won the match 21-13, 12-21, 12-21. This was Tai’s seventh consecutive win over Sindhu, 17th in total.

Earlier in the day, reigning World Champion Akane Yamaguchi of Japan lost to Gregoria Mariska Tunjung of Indonesia yet again. The Indonesia youngster had defeated Yamaguchi in the first round of Malaysia Open last week as well. Tunjung won with a fighting scoreline 23-25, 21-15, 21-10.

H.S Prannoy won a thrilling battle against Kenta Tsuneyama.

Star Indian shuttler H.S Prannoy played a superb match against Japan’s Kenta Tsuneyama. The Indian saved game points in the both the games.

In the first game, both the players scored points after points and the scoreline remained levelled for the entire game. However, it was the Japanese shuttler who had the game point at 20-19. But, the World no.19 took no time to level the scores at 20-20. Prannoy went on to have three consecutive game points but the Tsuneyama successfully saved all of them. At 23-23, it was an opportunity for both the players to seal the first game but it was Prannoy who held his nerve and took two tantalizing points and won the game 25-23.

The second game was equally pulsating for both the players. Once again, the Japanese shuttler had the game points at 20-18. However, the Indian titan once again saved two game points and levelled the scoreline. Prannoy then went to successfully score two points and win the match 25-23, 22-20.

Prannoy will now play Ng Ka Long of Hong Kong in the semi-final. The duo have a head to head of 4-4 with Prannoy having recently won at the Indonesia Open.

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