India’s star driver HS Prannoy, who was on fire at the Malaysia Masters Super 500, hit a roadblock when he narrowly lost three games to Hong Kong’s NG Ka Long Angus in a blundering men’s singles semi-final at here on Saturday.
It was heartbreaking again in the semi-final for the Indian as he squandered his one-set advantage to go down 21-17, 9-21, 17-21 against NG Ka Long after fighting in a hours and four minutes at Axiata Arena here.
Going into the match with a career 4-4 record, Prannoy, who has beaten Ng Ka Long in their last three meetings, picked the good side after winning the throw.
It seemed to come back to haunt him as he looked solidly in control in the first game but struggled with his length and drowned in a pile of unforgivable bugs after changing the ending. end.
After a tense start in the opening game, Prannoy took the lead 5-3 with two exquisite diagonal jumps.
The Indians are not trying to play at a spectacular pace but are focused on building rallies and punishing weak returns with a perfect position. He had a four-point cushion at halftime.
Ng Ka Long tried to use his smashes to collect points but he was fouled by missing some easy opportunities as Prannoy maintained a four-point lead until 17-13.
Prannoy then had two points with a couple of incorrect shots before dominating a parallel exchange and quickly seizing four game opportunities. He missed the first ball before ending the opening game with another perfect spot on the baseline.
However, after switching sides, Prannoy had difficulty manipulating the shuttle in trail conditions while Ng Ka Long performed better to hold onto the ball. The result was a six-point advantage at mid-match.
With errors piled up, Prannoy soon fell behind and the Indian player decided to let go of game 2 to save energy for the decider.
In the third set, Prannoy once again controlled the initial progress as he quickly led 8-3 but the Hong Kong player then made a dramatic recovery, taking eight of the next nine points, to take the lead. on the two-point lead critical period.
Ng Ka Long first held an even draw with Prannoy finding the net and then punishing India’s weak comeback.
After changing pitch for the last time, Prannoy tried to keep up with the rally but Ng Ka Long took the lead 16-12. The fact that Prannoy had gone as long at least three times added to his agony.
He produced two body shots to close the lead down to 16-17 to evoke hope of a change but his relentless drive won a long rally and then won three. points after the Indian fouled on the net.
He converted it with a fun block and jumped to celebrate.
