HS Prannoy enters Indonesia Open quarters
The world No 23 notched a 21-11, 21-18 victory in 41 minutes at the Istora Stadium in Jakarta to level his head-to-head to 4-4 against Angus.
Exactly a month after helping India conquer the Thomas Cup in Bangkok, Indian shuttler HS Prannoy stormed into the men’s singles quarter-finals of the $1.2 million Indonesia Open with a straight games victory over Hong Kong’s Ng Ka Long Angus on Thursday.
The world No 23 notched a 21-11, 21-18 victory in 41 minutes at the Istora Stadium in Jakarta to level his head-to-head to 4-4 against Angus.
He will next face Danish world No 13 Rasmus Gemke in a repeat of the famous Thomas Cup semi-final where Prannoy did the rescue act to propel India into the final. The two have a 2-2 record with the Indian winning the last two contests.
Prannoy is the only Indian left in competition after Sameer Verma and a couple of doubles pairs lost their second round matches at the Super 1000 tournament.
Facing Malaysian sixth seed Lee Zii Jia, Verma went down 10-21, 13-21 in 41 minutes to suffer his fifth loss in seven meetings against the world No 5.
Thomas Cup champions Dhruv Kapila and MR Arjun went down 19-21, 15-21 to China’s Liu Yu Chen and Ou Xuan Yi.
In women’s doubles, Ashwini Ponnappa and N Sikki Reddy lost 16-21, 13-21 in 39 minutes to reigning world champions and world No 1 Chen Qing Chen and Jia Yi Fan.
