Indian shuttler HS Prannoy staged a remarkable comeback to defeat Japan’s Koki Watanabe in the opening round of the China Open Super 1000 badminton tournament in Changzhou on Tuesday, saving five match points to win 8-21, 21-16, 23-21.The world No. 35 Prannoy showed exceptional resilience against the 18th-ranked Watanabe, particularly in the final game where he faced multiple match points.Lakshya Sen suffered a disappointing loss to China’s fifth seed Li Shi Feng, losing 21-14, 22-24, 11-21 after securing an early advantage.“This point in my career, every win matters. I’m happy to be back on tour, small breaks happened here and there. The level of playing has gone really high and winning each round is getting tough day by day,” Prannoy said after his victory.“The average age has become 22-23 in the men’s singles all of a sudden. Lot of fresh faces and you don’t really know what their game is. So, it’s tough to be a veteran out there,” he added.
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Prannoy, a former top-10 player and bronze medallist at the 2023 World Championships, struggled in the opening game as Watanabe dominated. However, he recovered in the second game with improved court coverage and control.The final game saw Prannoy trailing 2-11 before mounting a comeback, winning five consecutive points. Despite facing match points at 15-20, he displayed exceptional composure to save all five and secure a 23-21 victory.In other matches, Anupama Upadhyay lost her women’s singles opening round match to Chinese Taipei’s Lin Hsiang Ti with scores of 23-21, 11-21, 10-21.The tournament also saw early exits for Indian mixed doubles pairs. A Surya and A Pramuthesh, along with Rohan Kapoor and Ruthvika Gadde, were eliminated in their opening round matches.
