India’s HS Prannoy secured a comeback win over compatriot Lakshya Sen at the pre-quarters of the BWF World Championships on Thursday.
Prannoy secured the win with a scoreline of 17-21, 21-16 and 21-17 to progress to the quarterfinal stages.
Sen, who was the bronze medallist last year, raced to an early 3-0 lead in the first game as errors came to haunt Prannoy in the early stages of the match. But the 30-year-old bounced back to settle the scores at 4-4. There was very little to separate both men, but Sen took the lead at the interval with the score at 11-8.
From there, the 21-year-old was in full control of the first game and didn’t look like losing it. While Prannoy did his best to push it all the way, Sen took the game with a score of 21-17.
The second game started much better for the 30-year-old Prannoy as he raised to a 6-3 lead quickly. However, Sen bounced back to level things up and the game was evenly poised at 10-10.
The 21-year-old held a one-point advantage heading into the break with the score at 11-10.
After the interval, Prannoy retook the lead and further extended it by two points with the score at 14-12. The 30-year-old ensured that he was able to ward off the attempts from Sen to make a comeback and took the second game 21-16.
The third game proved to be more even at first as both men battled it out hard and provided some nail-biting action. But Prannoy slowly moved away and took a three-point lead into the break with the score at 11-8.
While Sen did show some fight after the break, Prannoy was too strong for his compatriot and eventually won the game and mat