Indonesia Open badminton: HS Prannoy beats Angus NG Ka Long to sail into quarter-finals
India’s top women’s doubles pair of Ashwini Ponnappa and N Sikki Reddy crashed out after losing to Tokyo 2020 silver medallists in straight games.
Indian badminton player HS Prannoy continued his good form and moved into the quarter-finals of the Indonesia Open 2022 in Jakarta on Thursday.
India’s only remaining challenge at the BWF Super 1000 event, HS Prannoy, ranked 23rd in the badminton rankings, defeated world No. 12 Angus NG Ka Long of Hong Kong 21-11, 21-18 at the Istoria Stadium.
HS Prannoy settled early and kept his higher-ranked opponent on toes from the start, countering Angus NG Ka Long’s speed efficiently with precise returns.
Angus NG Ka Long began the second game with much more intent and used the space well before HS Prannoy took back the momentum after being tied at 7-7. The Indian, who was instrumental in India’s first-ever Thomas Cup win last month, then sealed the second game and match in 41 minutes.
HS Prannoy will face the winner of the match between world No. 41 Brice Leverdez of France and Denmark’s world No. 13 Rasmus Gemke in the quarter-finals of the BWF Super 1000 badminton tournament on Friday.
Earlier in the day, world No. 30 Sameer Verma lost to fifth-ranked Lee Zii Jia of Malaysia 21-10, 21-13 in 43 minutes.
India’s top women’s doubles pair of Ashwini Ponnappa and N Sikki Reddy also crashed out after losing to Tokyo 2020 silver medallists Chen Qing Chen and Jia Yi Fan of China 21-16, 21-13.
Men’s doubles pair of MR Arjun and Dhruv Kapila, meanwhile, lost to China's Liu Yu Chen and Ou Xuan Yi 21-19, 21-15 in their round of 16 match.
Earlier, India’s top players PV Sindhu, Lakshya Sen and Kidambi Srikanth suffered first-round losses and made an early exit from the Indonesia Open 2022.