Prannoy wins Malaysia Masters, breaks jinx

Press Trust of India

Kuala Lumpur: Star Indian shuttler HS Prannoy ended a sixyear long title drought with a three-game win over China’s Weng Hong Yang in a pulsating men’s singles finals at the Malaysia Masters Super 500 tournament here on Sunday.

The 30-year-old Indian showed great composure and resolve during a 94-minute battle to notch a 21-19 13- 21 21-18 victory against China’s world number 34 Weng Hong Yang, a 2022 Asian Championships bronze medallist.

The win helped him to claim his maiden BWF (Badminton World Federation) World Tour title and also the first singles crown of the year for India. The BWF World Tour is divided into six levels, namely World Tour Finals, four Super 1000, six Super 750, seven Super 500, and 11 Super 300 in order. One other category of tournament, the BWF Tour Super 100 level, also offers ranking points.

The Super 500 is a Grade 2 (level 4) event in the BWF tournament ranking system. Prannoy was instrumental in India’s epic Thomas Cup victory last year but an individual title has eluded him since the 2017 US Open Grand Prix Gold. The Kerala shuttler had come close to breaking his title drought when he reached the finals at Swiss Open last year and signed off at the semifinal stage in Malaysia and the Indonesia Super 1000.

Prannoy has battled a series of injuries and health issues before turning his career around in the back end of 2021. In the last two years, he has been the most consistent Indian player in the circuit and yet he was not able to weave it all together in a week to win a big title in the BWF World Tour events.

On Sunday, all his hard work paid off as the world number nine Prannoy finally broke the jinx, dishing out a superlative performance against the 23-year-old from China in a battle of attrition. This week, Prannoy gave ample display of his physical and mental fortitude as he outfoxed his opponents – world number five Chou Tien Chen, All England champion Li Shi Feng and Japan’s Kenta Nishimoto.