Jakarta: HS Prannoy stunned World No. 1 Lee Chong Wei of Malaysia in straight games to storm into the quarterfinals of the $1,000,000 Indonesia Super Series Premier badminton tournament here Thursday. In another match, Kidambi Srikanth shocked World No. 9, Denmark’s Jan O Jorgensen to book his place in the last eight.
World No. 25 Prannoy, who went into the match with a 0-2 head-to-head record against Wei, saw off three-time Olympic silver medallist Lee 21-10, 21-18 in a 40-minute men’s singles contest at the Jakarta Convention Centre (JCC) here.
“Lee looked ordinary today and I took my chances. I am very happy to have won,” Prannoy stated after his match.
Srikanth also dug deep into his reserves to notch up a stunning 21-15, 20-22, 21-16 victory over Jorgensen. “Tough match today but happy to be on the winning side,” stated an elated Srikanth.
Prannoy will next face Olympic champion Chen Long of China, while Srikanth will meet the winner of the match between Chinese Taipei’s Tzu Wei Wang and Hong Kong’s Ng Ka Long Angus.
Prannoy looked in ominous form as he opened up a 6-0 lead in the opening game and then jumped up to a 10-3 advantage. After the break, the Indian continued to move ahead to eventually pocket the game without much ado.
In the second game, Prannoy once again held a 10-6 lead, which was quickly erased by Lee, who had a 13-12 advantage for a brief time. Prannoy soon changed gears to surge to 17-14 but Lee again levelled the scores before the Indian shut the door on the top seed with some deft strokeplay.
World No. 22 Srikanth, however, had to toil hard to get across Jorgensen, seeded fourth in the event. But eventually the 24-year-old prevailed in a hard-fought 57-minute battle.
The opening game was fought tooth and nail by both the players as they moved neck and neck till 10-10. After that, Srikanth slowly moved away and reeled off four straight points at 17-15 to grab the game.
In the second game, the duo was engaged in a fierce fight as none gave an inch. After being locked at 11-11, Jorgensen moved to a 15-12 lead but Srikanth kept fighting till the end to claw back at 20-20. However Jorgensen won the game when Srikanth hit the shuttle wide to restore parity.
In the decider, Jogensen zoomed to a 5-0 advantage but Srikanth showed tremendous grit to reel of six straight points and take the lead. He lead 11-8 at the break and continued to build on it to emerge a deserving winner.
