Throughout the final against young Chinese left-hander Weng Hong Yang, HS Prannoy was playing cross-smashes. But at 18-all in the decider, the Indian went down the line on the right side to surprise his opponent. He would repeat the straight deep full-blooded smash again to get to 20-18 – a perfect shooting arrow that caught a sliver of the left flank line this time. On the next point, Weng sent the shuttle wide to finally give Prannoy the first-ever World Tour title of his career, the Malaysian Masters Super 500, after years of persevering, at the age of 30.
The 21-19, 13-21, 21-18 win came after a marathon 94 minutes of play, during which Weng never stopped snapping at Prannoy’s heels. But that’s been the story of the Indian’s career – relentless posers asked of his game, even after he’s beaten the biggest names around. This last week too he took out stalwarts Chou Tien Chen and Li Shifeng, the reigning All England champion. But it was the final that saw Prannoy hang in there, battle the tough phases, and finally allow his booming attack to nail down the title.
Unlike previous finals and semifinals post his giant-killing acts when his game would fizzle out, Prannoy was far more proactive at the Axiata Arena on Sunday. The sheer physicality these three-game contests – as they all went past the hour-mark this week – demanded, proved just how prepared Prannoy was for the punishing rallies in slow conditions. The patience he displayed was an extension of his gritty wait for a first career title.
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HS Prannoy has done it!! ๐ซก๐
The WR 9 Indian beats Weng Hong Yang of China 21-19, 13-21, 21-18 in #MalaysiaMasters2023 men's singles final to win his maiden BWF World Tour title. ๐ฎ๐ณ#MalaysiaMasters #HSPrannoy pic.twitter.com/Kc3YfHnFdu
— Khel Now (@KhelNow) May 28, 2023
This week, he was on the court for an average of 79 minutes each match, playing out games that went 64, 70, 91 and 94 minutes.
The man known as the Backhand Beast had beaten the biggest names in the game, but would perennially struggle to string together the five wins needed to win a tournament. A couple of years back, his health and body had needed patching up, before he could even think of winning on a badminton court. He would find help in technology to monitor his nutrition and sleep patterns.
Not that he got enough sleep over the last three nights when the excitement of playing in front of the packed Axiata Arena left him sleepless. But he fetched up to play Weng with the same patience and determination.
Against Weng, a left-hander with a complete game, it was Prannoy’s scrambling diving defence that kept him in the long rallies in the opening game. He would try to pin Weng back and accelerate mid-rally in search of winners that were difficult to come due to the slow conditions. There were net taps, cross-smashes, straight slices and tight-spun dribble winners as he broke away at 16-all by executing clutch winners.
Cross-sport learnings
Just recently, Prannoy had spoken about being a fan of Mahendra Singh Dhoni, and amongst the biggest qualities he’s learnt from the legendary cricketer seems to be how to take the game deep, and win from those crunch situations. Prannoy took the opener 21-19 after a net exchange which he ended with a push-kill.
HS Prannoy takes the opening game 21-19 vs Weng Hong Yang!
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Generally, Prannoy is guilty of looking for a second-game breather, but not on the day, as he kept attacking looking to wrap up the contest as early as possible. However, Weng was proving a tough nut to crack, and levelled the match score by taking the second 21-13.
Rallies got longer, and there was a frenetic net exchange at 10-all in the decider in which the Indian prevailed. At 14-11, he would go for a body smash, and at 17-15, construct a perfect rally before hitting a winner to Weng’s forehand. Known to keep something special for the end, Prannoy would then unveil the deep down-the-line smashes, and go past Weng for the title.
National coach Pullela Gopichand called it a great win, given the quality of matches Prannoy played the whole week. โHe played really tough matches, this could have been the World Championship or All England-level field. The physicality involved, I’ve never known Malaysia to have such long matches, but he fought through. Lack of a tournament win might’ve hurt him earlier but this has come perfectly at the start of the Olympic qualification and will give him immense confidence. Next time he’s in the semis, he’ll think of going all the way and taking the next step with this box ticked,โ the 2001 All England champion said.
It might’ve been a combination of being mentally satisfied with a marquee win and simply the body hurting previously that had led to Prannoy taking so long to win a world tour title. โNow he understands his body a lot better, he can trust his instincts and back off (from playing too many tournaments). He’s matured and reads his game better,โ the coach added.