BWF World Tour Finals: HS Prannoy defeats world no. 1 Viktor Axelsen in a consolation match to round off his season

    World no. 12 HS Prannoy won against world no. 1 Viktor Axelsen in his final group A clash of the BWF World Tour Finals at Nimibutr Arena in Bangkok, Thailand, on December 9.

    H S Prannoy claimed a memorable victory. H S Prannoy claimed a memorable victory.

    The lone Indian entrant at the BWF World Tour Finals showed his class to secure a 14-21, 21-17, 21-18 win after a one hour-long clash.

    Prannoy was already out of contention for the semi-finals after losing his first two group-stage matches against Lu Guang Zu of China and Kodai Naraoka of Japan.

    Axelsen had already advanced to the knockout stage after winning his first two matches in Group A. The Danish shuttler will be joined by Naraoka, who claimed the semi-final spot after beating Zu.

    Prannoy and Axelsen were evenly matched in the early stages of the first game. The 28-year-old Danish shuttler took complete control of the game to win five consecutive points from 5-5 before eventually claiming the opener 21-14.

    Axelsen carried on with the attacking momentum in the second game to gain a 10-6 lead. However, Prannoy began dragging his Danish opponent into longer rallies as he made several unforced errors to force the match into a decider by winning the second game 21-17.

    The 30-year-old Delhi native maintained his composure in the final game of the match. He built a five-point lead after both shuttlers were tied at 12-12. Axelsen tried to pull off a comeback, but Prannoy did not falter and closed out the final game 21-18 to secure his victory.

    <blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">PRANNOY UPSETS OLY AND WORLD CHAMPION🏸<br><br>Prannoy ends WTF on a good note as he defeated WR 1 Viktor Axelsen in his last match of group stage in 3 sets!<br><br>Final Score : 14-21,21-17,21-18<br><br>This is back to back wins against World champion for HSP!<br><br>End of 🇮🇳 participation in WTF ! <a href="https://t.co/jCJH7w9vTC">pic.twitter.com/jCJH7w9vTC</a></p>&mdash; SPORTS ARENA🇮🇳 (@SportsArena1234) <a href="https://twitter.com/SportsArena1234/status/1601159171415891968?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 9, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

    The victory improved his win-loss record to 2-5 against Olympic champion Axelsen. The win also means Prannoy finishes at the third spot on the group A table and maintains his position in the top 15 of the BWF rankings.

    Jonatan Christie and Antony Ginting of Indonesia also advanced to the knockouts after claiming the top two points in their respective group.

     

    Editor's Picks