Indonesia Open : HS Prannoy advances to quarterfinals after beating NG Ka Long

Jakarta (Indonesia) : Continuing his good form, ace Indian shuttler HS Prannoy moved into the quarterfinals of the Indonesia Open 2022 after beating Angus NG Ka Long of Hong Kong, here on Thursday.India’s only remaining challenge at the BWF Super 1000 event, Prannoy, ranked 23rd in the badminton rankings, defeated world No 12 Angus 21-11, 21-18 in the men’s singles Round of 16 match at the Istoria Stadium.

The 29-year old Prannoy settled early and kept his higher-ranked opponent on toes from the start, countering Long’s speed efficiently with precise returns.The shuttler from Hong Kong began the second game with much more intent and used the space well before Prannoy took back the momentum after being tied at 7-7.

The Indian then sealed the second game and match in 41 minutes.Prannoy, who was instrumental in India’s first-ever Thomas Cup win last month, 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 quarterfinals 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 10-21, 13-21 in 43 minutes. On the other hand, 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 16-21, 13-21.

Meanwhile, the men’s doubles pair of MR Arjun and Dhruv Kapila lost to China’s Liu Yu Chen and Ou Xuan Yi 19-21, 15-21 in their round of 16 match.Other Indian top players PV Sindhu, Lakshya Sen and Kidambi Srikanth suffered first-round defeats and made an early exit from the Indonesia Open 2022.