Bangkok: Shuttler B Sai Praneeth bagged his maiden Grand Prix gold title by posting a come-from-behind victory over Indonesian Jonatan Christie in the men’s singles final of the $1,20,000 Thailand Open badminton tournament here Sunday.
The third-seeded Indian prevailed 17-21, 21-18, 21-19 over the fourth seeded Indonesian in a contest that lasted 71 minutes.
This is Praneeth’s second consecutive title win, following the Singapore Open victory. He had reached the final of Syed Modi International in January at Hyderabad, where he lost to Sameer Verma.
“I was just focusing on the rallies. It was a difficult match. I tried to control the pace of the game and could do so in the latter stages of the match. I am happy I could win. I thank everyone who supported me,” said Praneeth after the match.
The Indonesian opened up a 3-0 lead in the first game, but Praneeth continued to play the catch up game. He caught up at four-all, seven-all, 14-all and 17-all before Christie reeled off four points in a row to win the game.
Making a brilliant comeback in the second game, Praneeth surged ahead 5-0 and then 9-3 but failed to maintain the lead as his opponent won six successive points to make it 9-9.
Thereafter, it was a neck-and-neck battle till 15-15 before the Indian took a slight two-point lead at 17-15. Leading 17-16, Praneeth managed to bag three more points to move ahead 20-16. Although he wasted two game points, he eventually won it 21-18.
In the decider, Christie broke away at 2-2 to open up a 7-2 lead and then to 8-3. However, the Indian narrowed the gap to 7-8 and restored parity ay nine-all.
At 17-17, Praneeth won two crucial points to take a 19-17 lead but only to concede the advantage. However, the Indian held on to his nerves to reel off two quick points to wrap up the match and the title in his favour.
