Malaysia Masters: Prannoy beats Yang, clinches maiden BWF World Tour title

H.S. Prannoy clinched his maiden BWF World Tour title after beating Weng Hong Yang of the People's Republic of China

Kuala Lumpur: India’s world No.9 shuttler H.S. Prannoy clinched his maiden BWF World Tour title after beating Weng Hong Yang of the People’s Republic of China 21-19, 13-21, 21-18 at the Malaysia Masters Super 500 badminton tournament, here on Sunday.

With the win, Prannoy secured his first men’s singles title in more than six years, marking a significant achievement in his career. He had previously clinched the title at the 2017 US Open, which was a part of the BWF Grand Prix, the precursor to the current BWF World Tour.

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Playing his first final of the year Prannoy and Yang went toe-to-toe early on in the first game. As the game progressed, both shuttlers battled to gain the upper hand. With the scores tied at 16-16, the Indian raised his game and went one game up in the match.

Prannoy, however, failed to carry the momentum in the second game as the Chinese rallied to take an 11-9 lead into the midway break. Later, he won six consecutive points and pocketed the second game to force a decider.

In the deciding game, the Indian got off to a slow start as he trailed 2-5 early on but made a solid comeback to tie the score at 9-9. With the score reading 18-all, Prannoy dug deep and closed out the match with three back-to-back points to win the BWF Super 500 event.

Prannoy advanced to the final after Christian Adinata of Indonesia withdrew due to injury during the semifinals, granting Prannoy a place in the championship match.

Earlier, the 30-year-old defeated Kenta Nishimoto of Japan and reigning All-England champion Li Shi Feng in the quarterfinals and pre-quarterfinals, respectively.