India's star shuttler HS Prannoy outlasted a hard-fought battle against compatriot Priyanshu Rajawat to seal his place in the quarterfinals of the India Open 2024 badminton tournament in New Delhi on Thursday.
The eighth-seeded Prannoy had to exert a great deal of effort against his junior compatriot Rajawat to register a 20-22, 21-14, 21-14 victory.
With Prannoy jumping out to an early 5-2 lead, Priyanshu Rajawat, who had defeated Lakshya Sen in the first round, appeared to be at a disadvantage. But the 21-year-old pulled off a spectacular comeback to take a 20-18 lead over Prannoy, the bronze medallist at the world championships.
Even though Prannoy was able to save two game points, he ultimately let the lead slip away.
Rajawat rallied to cut Prannoy's early advantage to 7-0, bringing the score to 12-10. However, the 31-year-old Prannoy moved quickly and increased the stakes.
With a more easy performance, Prannoy won the decider to advance after 76 minutes contest. In the men's singles badminton tournament at the India Open, Prannoy is the lone Indian player still competing.
Satwiksairaj and Chirag enter quarterfinals
Meanwhile, Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy, world No. 2 in the BWF badminton rankings, also made the final eight in men's doubles.
Satwik and Chirag had a much more comfortable day at work after having to put in a lot of effort to defeat Fang-Chih Lee and Fang-Jen Lee of Chinese Taipei in the first round.
In a 46-minute match, the Indian badminton players easily defeated Lu Ching Yao and Yang Po Han 21-14, 21-15.
In the quarterfinals, Danish fifth seeds Kim Astrup and Anders Skaarup Rasmussen will present a far more formidable foe for Chirag and Satwik
Recently, Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Reddy became the first Indian pair to be on the podium as runner-ups at the Malaysia Open.
