Winning a national title may not be a very big deal for players who are regularly competing and winning on the international circuit but that wasn’t the case for HS Prannoy. The 25-year-old won his first ever national title at any level after beating world No 2 K Srikanth in three games in the final in Nagpur on Wednesday.
Prannoy had lost three of the last four matches he had played against his friend and fellow trainee at the P Gopichand academy – two of them going the distance of three games. He was also battling a partisan Nagpur crowd that was backing the man who had won four Superseries titles this year.
However, all that didn’t matter to Prannoy as he brought forth a stellar attacking game and his trademark backhand smashes to slowly turn the crowd in his favour. By the time he won 21-15, 16-21, 21-7, he received a standing ovation.
“This is my first national championship title and I think it will take a little time to sink in,” said the world No 11, his career best. “Beating Srikanth was even more special as he is the man of the moment,” he added.
Patience pays
While Prannoy was up and about right from the start, Srikanth took a bit of time to get settled in, which reflected in the first game’s score. The world No 2 showed his true colours in the second game, helped also by the direction of the drift in the arena. Srikanth levelled the match to one-game all, much to the delight of the crowd, and this was a situation Prannoy was all too familiar with.
At the French Open a couple of weeks ago too, Prannoy won the first game comfortably, only to allow Srikanth back into the match and win. Prannoy began to get frustrated as Srikanth crawled his way back, and the 25-year-old was determined to not let this happen again.
“The important thing was to be patient and I kept telling myself that I can still be in the match,” Prannoy said. “Srikanth is a player who takes time to get used to the conditions but once he gets set he is very difficult to beat. I knew it was going to happen today also because of the drift in the stadium. After the first game, I knew he was going to really push. But I was not getting irritated or frustrated because I knew it was coming and was prepared for it.”
Prannoy added that he had been working on his mental conditioning in order to help him come through crucial moments and matches. “The French Open loss against Srikanth was really tough because I had good control in that match too but I could not finish it off. There are so many things going on in your mind that you need to control. I’ve started to do that and that’s probably why I’ve started to do so well.”
Prannoy also credited his unplayable backhand smashes to his coach Mulyo Handoyo for showing him many videos of the legendary Taufik Hidayat, who was a master of the shot. “My backhand has been my strength. I have a different style of doing it and I’m probably one of the hardest hitters in the world right now. A lot of credit goes to Taufiq for that,” Prannoy said.
With a national title in the bag, Prannoy now wants to chase silverware in Superseries, in which he has always faltered in the latter stages. “It’s always been quarters and semi-finals, and losing very closely in the semi-finals, so I would really love to win one Superseries and be in the top eight in the world rankings,” he said.
Ashwini-Satwik win mixed doubles title
Earlier in the day, Ashwini Ponnappa and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy won their first mixed doubles national title together after beating top seeds N Sikki Reddy and Pranaav Jerry Chopra in three games.
Reddy and Chopra were dozing in the first game, allowing their opponents to win 12 straight points at one stage. Ponnappa and Rankireddy won the game easily 21-9, with Reddy and Chopra committing too many unforced errors.
In the interval between the two games, Chopra got his right thigh strapped, giving the impression he was carrying an injury. However, a completely rejuvenated Chopra emerged after the break as he got his smash-winners percentage up and took the game to Ponnappa and Rankireddy.
The second seeds were themselves guilty of committing unforced errors as a rather scrappy game followed, which was nicked by Reddy and Chopra 22-20, taking the match into a decider. The two pairs kept it tight in the third game as well, before Ponnappa and Rankireddy went on a late run to take it 21-17.
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