The one consistent feature of HS Prannoy’s recent upturn of form on the international circuit is the number of firsts he has registered late in his career. A historic Thomas Cup gold medal. A first World Championship medal. A first Asian Games medal. A first title for him on the BWF World Tour.
And continuing that trend, he has begun 2024 with his first-ever semifinal appearance at the India Open. It is a tournament with plenty of good memories for him. Playing and defeating his idol Taufik Hidayat, then facing Lee Chong Wei and pushing Viktor Axelsen. But the best result at India’s premier event for him was the quarterfinals against Wang Tzu Wei. On Friday, he pulled off a thrilling comeback after looking down and out in the decider to win 21-11, 17-21, 21-18 in 77 minutes at IG Stadium.
Prannoy 2.0
It is tough to imagine if Prannoy of younger days would have pulled this off after struggling in the second game and going down 5-10 in the third. But this is the new and improved version of Prannoy, one that has made it a point to force himself to be courageous when the chips are down. This is what he had told himself when he slipped and fell in the Thomas Cup semifinal decider against Denmark. Tune everything out. Fight it out.
And so he did. A mini-run of points from that deficit helped Prannoy make it 9-11 at the final change of ends. He let out some of the biggest roars of the night as he caught up with Wang and then finally had a lead at 17-16. Riding the wave, Prannoy safely reached the shore.
“You need to be fighting with yourself. Stay in the present no matter what the situation is and bravely try different shots, that is one thing I have been trying the last two years,” Prannoy told reporters about his mindset. “You can’t blame yourself when someone like Wang goes on a run with good shots, you can’t get annoyed. You just have to let it go, let him have those points with smashes and net-play. I knew that was going to come, you just have to keep going.”
Indeed, at various points in the match Wang dominated. He had two 6-point runs in the first two games, and a 5-point run in the decider. But when it mattered the most in the end, Prannoy found a way to regroup. And one of those brave points he talked about was a Tai Tzu Ying-esque slice drop to leave Wang on the floor and make it 10-13.
The net-play was a delight to watch from both players on the night and it eventually played a pivotal role. “The net battle was extremely tricky with the new shuttles, as they are fast for the first 2-3 shots,” Prannoy explained. “So we were both trying not to lift early on in a rally because we were both not getting the lengths right. That’s why a lot of the battle was at the net. He’s somebody who can hit very odd shots from the backcourt and comes really hard with the bodyline smashes. It’s tough to defend that and that’s why a lot of net-game was needed towards the end.”
Crowd support
With two winners for the first two points, Prannoy got the crowd warmed up nice and early. The opening game saw the India No 1 play with supreme confidence and the world No 28 from Chinese Taipei looked a bit lost. But an athlete often relies on the energy from fans when the chips are down. After the point at 5-8 in Game 3, Prannoy was floored by a Wang winner. He lay down on the court for a few seconds, face down. The match was slipping away. The crowd was tensed. While he got up, however, the crowd started chanting “HSP, HSP, HSP” for a good minute or so as he regathered himself for the next point.
It can’t be a coincidence that the match turned there. Prannoy hit two straight winners and the crowd responded with bigger cheers. Then came a delightful deceptive push to the backcourt to make it 8-10. After the change of ends, Prannoy upped the ante. A down-the-line smash winner to make it 14-14 was sufficient evidence that the eighth seed was regaining control.
Prannoy said later, “I knew that I had to get the deficit down to 2-3 points in the decider, then the crowd would help me to get through the backend. So when it became 9-11, I was confident that I can win this. Definitely, at 15-all the crowd really helped push through with their energy. Hopefully, we have bigger crowds for the semifinal with full stands.”
With the match having ended later than he would have liked, the key will be recovery for the semfinal against newly promoted world No 2 Shi Yu Qi of China. A tough physical test awaits but Prannoy 2.0 will be ready in his mind.
2024-01-19 18:08:13
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