HS Prannoy beats Viktor Axelsen in final Group A mens singles match in Bangkok . Prannoy defeated the world No.
Bangkok, Thailand, December 9, 2013: HS Prannoy, India's ace shuttler, claimed victory over Denmark's world No.1 Viktor Axelsen in the BWF World Tour Finals 2022 on Friday in his third and final Group A mens singles match in Bangkok, Thailand.This was HS Prannoy's second victory over the current Olympic and world champion.Viktor Axelsen qualified for the BWF World Tour Finals semi-finals in 2022 after losing to Chinas Lu Guang Zu and Japans Kodai Naraoka in 2016 after five straight losses, according to the Olympics website.
The semifinals are only played by two players from each of the two groups.The Danish shuttler and HS Prannoy, who are ranked No.12 in the world, started the match on an even playing field.Though the score was tied at 5, Viktor Axelsen pulled ahead by scoring five points in a row, eventually taking the lead 1-0. Later, the Indian badminton player fought long rallies and made many unforced mistakes from Viktor Axelsen to take the game into the third set.When HS Prannoy was down 12-12 in the third game, he kept his cool to maintain a five-point advantage.He had beaten his previous two group matches from a winning spot.Viktor Axelsen had a shot to win the tournament in the final minutes, but HS Prannoy performed flawlessly to advance to his first BWF World Tour Finals this season thanks to some solid showings. HS Prannoy assisted the Indian badminton team in winning their first Thomas Cup title in May and placed second in the Swiss Open Super 300 competition.In addition, he qualified to the semifinals of the Malaysia Masters Super 500 and Indonesia Open Super 1000 tournaments.Prannoy was able to return to the top 15 of the badminton world rankings after almost four years due to his performances, which also placed him third in the BWF World Tour Finals standings.PV Sindhu, the only Indian to make it to the finals of the championship, is recovering from an ankle injury.At the BWF World Tour Finals in 2018, she claimed the women's singles title.