76th Senior National Badminton Championships: B. Sai Praneeth beats Anand Pawar in semi-final fight
India’s young shuttler B. Sai Praneeth has delivered a sensational performance in the Men’s Singles semi-final match where he defeated his experienced opponent Anand Pawar at the 76th Senior National Badminton Championships 2012, on Tuesday, January
24, in India.
Praneeth, who is World Number 91 and second seed in the tournament, showed his elevated skills and won the fight against Pawar, who has been positioned at number 70 in the world rankings.
Pawar tried to dominate the rallies but failed as his rival was in tremendous form. Praneeth took 50 minutes to register his win over Pawar and has secured his place in the final of the tournament.
In the opening few rallies of first game, both players remained close as they played positive and aggressive badminton. The net play of Pawar was impressive while his rival was playing incredible game from the rear-court area.
The wonderful exchange of fast rallies kept the crowd engaged and the cracking sound of powerful strokes could be heard everywhere in the hall. Until the break, no one could take a reasonable lead.
After the break, Praneeth accelerated his speed and injected more power in his smashes. He played with precision and troubled Pawar in all areas of the court. The planned game of Praneeth helped him to end the first set with a reasonable margin of 21-17.
In the second game, Praneeth dominated the rallies from the opening points and did not let his opponent to dictate the pace. On the other hand, Pawar changed his tactics but failed to overpower his challenger who was moving quicker in all areas of the court.
Praneeth was quite focused in the game and remained ahead of his experienced opponent. He did not commit mistakes in the concluding part of second game and continued his remarkable run.
The positive play of Praneeth helped him to maintain pressure on Pawar throughout the second game and he ended it with a comfortable 21-15 score on the board.
This semi-final clash ended with the victory of Praneeth with a comprehensive margin of 21-17 and 21-15.
In the final showdown, Praneeth will take on his higher ranked team-mate, Sourabh Varma who proved his supremacy over H.S Prannoy in the other semi-final contest.
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