Star Indian shuttler HS Prannoy suffered a straight-game loss to Hong Kong’s Ng Ka Long Angus in the quarterfinals to end country’s campaign at the Taipei Open Super 300 tournament here on Friday.
The world No. 9 Indian didn’t quite find his rhythm, going down 19-21, 8-21, to fifth seed Ka Long in a lop-sided contest. Coming into the match with a 6-5 head-to-head record, third seed Prannoy matched his rival in the beginning, but as the match wore on, he crumbled. Both shuttlers didn’t yield much as they engaged in a tight game, leading to a close affair in the first part of the opening game. After Ka Long made a service error, Prannoy grabbed a slender two-point lead at the break. The Indian netted a shot and missed the line next, as it was 12-12. Prannoy played some good-looking jump smashes to wriggle out of situations, but the Hong Kong player kept himself in the hunt as the lead kept changing hands till 19-19. Ka Long then won a rally comprising parallel shots to grab a game point and converted it when Prannoy went long.
Ka Long continued the momentum in the second game, leading 7-2 at one point. His returns were more precise, and smashes had a little more sting as he troubled the Indian. The Hong Kong player held a five-point cushion at the interval after a rally ended with Prannoy going to the net. Things went downhill for the Indian thereafter as he made simple errors, while Ka Long was more alert and showed more
initiative.
