Journalism of Courage
It wasn’t a marathon match like the half a dozen times before. But Wang Tzu Wei of Taiwan did stalk and snap at HS Prannoy’s heels all the way, before bowing out 21-19, 22-20 to the Indian at the All England Badminton Championships.
Prannoy next plays Anthony Ginting in Round 2 after the Indonesian third seed packed off Thai Kantaphon Wangcharoen in straight games, 21-17, 21-19. Prannoy has played the speedy Ginting three times and leads their head to head 2-1. Wang, though, offered a tidy little workout, in the course of his ‘frenzied rallies’ style of play, with plenty of errors besmirching a good plan to catch Prannoy on his backhand lunge to the forecourt corner.
The opener saw Prannoy operating smoothly at the net, as Wang ambitiously engaged him in rallies but didn’t have the incision to pick points from his side of the net. The shuttle drawled on a tad slowly, and rallies were long, even though the Indian reached 11-4 quickly.
Prannoy would rely on his roaring forehand smashes, getting under the shuttle early, each time Wang tried to blitz him by rushing to the net, as the Indian took the opener 21-19 after Wang levelled at 19-all. Two clutch points came from straight smashes, as he cut out Wang’s hopes of rushing to take the opener, with a counter-blitz and a lot of shoulder on the big kills.
More often than that though and with some success, Wang used his cross-drops to summon Prannoy to the backhand front corner, drawing out lifting errors. It took some doing to not give Wang that angle and elevation to pour out those drop shots as Prannoy played flatter and straighter, pushing him to the opposite flanks and playing the lines.
From 4-0 in the second, Prannoy would trail briefly, but take the 11-10 lead. Pushed to chase the corners, he would take recourse to his big smashing game whenever Wang tried to tangle him up at the net. Finally, Prannoy managed to pin him back after he once again levelled at 19-all, and after some stutters and frenetic reflex defending of body smashes, nailed down the match 21-19, 22-20.
