Shuttler Prannoy crashes out of Hong Kong Open

India's H.S. Prannoy crashed out of the men's singles competition at the ongoing Hong Kong Open badminton tournament after going down fighting to Chong Wei Feng of Malaysia here on Thursday.

Prannoy started off on a promising note at the Hong Kong Coliseum before going down 21-15, 11-21, 15-21 over 58 minutes in the second round encounter.

Sameer Verma, another Indian in the fray in men's singles event, enjoyed a better day in office with a 19-21, 21-15, 21-11 victory over Kazumasa Sakai of Japan in 53 minutes.

Prannoy wrested the advantage early in the first game, opening up a 9-7 lead. Chong fought back to restore parity before the Indian won four consecutive points to lead at 13-9.

Prannoy never looked back from there and another four-point streak enabled him to force game point at 20-14.

Although his opponent managed to hold off one game point, Prannoy did not have to wait long, taking the very next point to win the opening game.

The second game was a hard fought affair in the early stages before the Hong Kong shuttler won five back to back points to open up a formidable 14-7 lead.

Another streak, this time of four points, saw him increase the advantage to 18-9. Although Prannoy won a couple of points more, it was not enough to stop Chong from taking the game and restoring parity.

Chong stamped his authority right at the start of the third and decisive set by taking a 6-0 lead.

Not to be outdone, Prannoy fought back to level the scores at 8-8.

The game was a tense, neck to neck affair till 14-14, when Chong won four consecutive points to lead 18-14. He never looked back from there, going on to win the game and the match.

--IANS

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