Thailand Open 2012: Sai Praneeth B. beats Wong Choong Hann in an epic pre-quarter-final battle
India’s impressive shuttler Sai Praneeth B. put up staggering show of top quality badminton and overpowered Malaysia’s veteran Wong Choong Hann in an epic battle at the Men’s Singles round-of-16 stage at SCG Thailand Open GP Gold 2012 at Bangkok, Thailand,
on Thursday, June 7.
The young Indian, who has been impressive in all of his matches at Thailand Open, showed his brilliance against the experienced Malaysian and won the battle with a tight margin on the board.
The inform Praneeth could not find a good start but found his way back into the fight and took the following games to overpower Choong Hann in a thrilling fashion by taking 55 minutes in the court.
Choong Hann, on the other hand, found a perfect start and took opening set easily but failed to maintain his focus in the following set and lost it. In the final set he remained unlucky in the ending points and lost the match with a tight score.
In the first game, Praneeth failed to play normal game as he committed many unforced errors in the game and also remained struggling to create gaps in his rival’s court. Until the one-minute interval, he was trailing behind the Malaysian on the score board.
After the break, Praneeth tried his level best to stop the progress of his rival but failed to prove his worth and lost the set with a huge margin of 13-21.
In the following set, both shuttlers played well and remained neck-to-neck until the mid-game interval.
After the break, it was Praneeth who took over the control from his experienced opponent and managed to bag the set by a decent 21-18 margin on the score board.
In the deciding set, the fight remained very tough between both shuttlers and they could not take a considerable lead until the one-minute interval.
After the break, they continued snapping each other’s heel by playing attacking and positive badminton and reached at 20-20 when Praneeth showed his brilliance and took ending points to bag the set with a margin of 22-20.
The in-form Indian won this epic battle in three games with a sensational 13-21, 21-18 and 22-20 score on the board.
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