Prannoy enters second successive final at Indonesian Masters

Young Indian shuttler H S Prannoy entered his second successive final after beating Malaysia's Daren Liew in the men's singles event at the USD 1,25,000 Indonesian Masters Grand Prix Gold here today.
Fifth seed Prannoy, who finished runners-up at the USD 50,000 Vietnam Grand Prix in Hochiminh City last week, edged out Liew, seeded ninth, 21-14 14-21 21-14 in a close to an hour semifinal clash.
The Indian will take on the winner of the other semifinal between qualifier Firman Abdul Kholik of Indonesia and Malaysia's Zulfadli Zulkiffli in the final tomorrow.
The 22-year-old Prannoy, who had beaten Liew, a former top 10 player, during their only encounter at the 2012 Malaysia Open GP Gold, fought back from 5-8 down to eventually break off at 12-12 to earn the bragging rights.

In the second game, Liew turned the tables on the Indian as he opened up a 7-3 lead early on and even though Prannoy reduced the gap to 8-9, the Malaysian didn't allow him to come any closer after that to bounce back into contest.
Jolted by the second game loss, Prannoy zoomed ahead 5-0 in the decider and entered the break with a slight edge at 11-9. The Indian held on to his nerves after that even as Liew crumbled under pressure.
Prannoy won a silver medal in Boys' singles at 2010 Summer Youth Olympics.