BWF World Tour Finals: HS Prannoy stuns Olympic champion Victor Axelsen | Badminton News – Times of India

BWF World Tour Finals: HS Prannoy stuns Olympic champion Victor Axelsen | Badminton News – Times of India

NEW DELHI: Ace Indian shuttler HS Prannoy, who is already out of contention for the knockouts, ended his BWF World Tour Finals campaign on a high after registering a stunning 14-21, 21-17, 21-18 victory over world number one and Olympic champion Viktor Axelsen in Bangkok on Friday.
Third seed Prannoy, who had lost his earlier two Group A matches, defeated the top seed Dane in 51 minutes.
But Axelsen — who won gold at the Tokyo Olympics last year — still advances to Saturday’s semi-finals.
This was Prannoy’s second career win over Axelsen, whom he had beaten during the Indonesia Masters last year. The career head-to-head record is, however, in favour of Axelsen at 5-2.
Axelsen started strong, winning the first game 21-14, and looked like he was cruising towards a straight-games victory as he took a four-point lead early in the second.
But the 30-year-old Prannoy, ranked 12th in the world, did not give up and after the interval clawed his way back to claim the second game 21-17.
Prannoy then deployed clever net work to build an advantage in the final game, putting Axelsen under pressure and leading to a 21-18 win.
On Thursday, Prannoy had lost to China’s Lu Guang Zu in his second Group A match to bow out of the semi-final race. The 30-year-old from Kerala had lost 21-23 21-17 19-21 in a gruelling 84-minute contest.
The top two players in each group will make it to the knockout stage. Prannoy is the lone Indian competing in the season-ending tournament.
The Badminton World Federation shifted its $1.5 million flagship event to the Thai capital’s Nimibutr Arena after original host China dropped the tournament due to its tough Covid restrictions.
(With inputs from Agencies)

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