Asian Games: Indian shuttler HS Prannoy bags bronze medal in men’s singles category

Hangzhou [China], October 6 (ANI): India’s ace shuttler HS Prannoy on Friday bagged a bronze medal in the badminton men’s singles category at the ongoing 19th Asian Games.

Prannoy suffered a defeat against China’s Li Shifeng 0-2 (16-21, 9-21) in the badminton men’s singles semifinal and settled for a bronze medal.

After going into the first game break trailing 10-11, Chinese hope Shifeng rolled through the match as he won 21-16. 21-9 in just over 45 minutes.

Prannoy started well in the first game as he took an 11-10 lead against the Chinese. However, it did not take long for Shifeng to seal it in the opening game as he raced around the court in the last not giving Prannoy any space to find winners.

Prannoy overcooked two smashes back-to-back to fall behind by a point early in the second game. With powerful smash cross-court clips, the Indian looks content at simply lifting the shuttle.

Even two net chords were not fruitful in turning Prannoy’s luck in the match as Shifeng found a delicate at the top of the net to finish off another long rally.

The Indian was more aggressive in the following rally but put the shuttle into the net eventually. Shifeng played with much more energy and took his chances when they came as Prannoy really seemingly ran out of steam in the end.