HS Prannoy becomes first Indian men’s singles shuttler to win Malaysia Masters title

HS Prannoy on Sunday became the first Indian men’s singles player to win the Malaysia Masters title, defeating Weng Hong Yang of China in the final. Saina Nehwal and PV Sindhu are the other two Indian players to win the Malaysia Masters in singles.

Prannoy made use of his experience from the start of the match to beat Wang Hong Yang 21-19, 13-21, 21-18 in a three-game final that lasted one hour and 34 minutes.

“I congratulate HS Prannoy for becoming the first Indian men’s singles shuttler to win the Malaysia Masters title. He has contributed to many memorable victories in Indian badminton and has done the country great pride by continuing his fine form at the BWF World Tour title.” The thing is.” Sanjay Mishra, Secretary General, Badminton Association of India, said, “I hope and wish that he continues his impressive performance in the upcoming tournaments and brings more laurels to India.

Pranay HS __ Struggle Against Weng Hong Yang __.#BWFworldtour #MalaysiaMasters2023 pic.twitter.com/plC7InOw77— BWF (@bwfmedia) May 28, 2023

The Indian shuttler has been instrumental in several victories for the Indian badminton team including the historic Thomas Cup and the 2023 Badminton Asia Mixed Team Championships. Now, with a BWF World Tour title in the men’s singles category, Prannoy will look at the upcoming tournaments with more confidence.

“I think a lot of the feelings are kind of because the last six years were pretty much a roller coaster ride for me and really didn’t expect this to happen after six years. To be honest, if you asked me in 2017 , then I don’t think I would have told you that I would be winning the Super 500 in 2023. I want to thank all the coaches and support staff. After the win.

“The emotion is overwhelming and then you’re just excited to come out there and play in front of such a big crowd. It was a beautiful crowd there, so you’re always excited to be there. The draw was really tough for me,” he added. And there were really tough matches because I had to dig really deep. All four matches went down to the wire and that shows how patient I was and my fitness was also pretty good. I think that’s the type of players to beat Not easy, you just have to dig deep. Conditions were really slow throughout the tournament and all the matches were going long and you just had to hang in there and I did that.

The first game of the final was a tight contest as both the shuttlers started with high energy and gave it their all to earn each and every point. They were level at 5-5 after which Prannoy played some ferocious shots to lead by a single point (11-10) at the break.

Prannoy did not lag behind Weng in the second half of the first game and took the lead in the match.

The Indian shuttler took time to find her feet in the second game as Weng produced a brilliant performance. He didn’t give Prannoy time to settle down and won the second game 21-13. However, Prannoy came out on top in the third game as he kept his cool in tough conditions.

He was ahead by a break (11-10) in the third game and with some fine net play and smashes, he took the game 21-18 and won the title.