BWF World Tour Finals, HS Prannoy vs Kodai Naraoka as it happened: Indian loses out in three games
Recap of the men’s singles group A match.
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Group A: HS Prannoy loses against Kodai Naraoka in three games, to face Lu Guang Zu on Thursday.
Group A: Viktor Axelsen, seems to be in decent form, this guy. The world No 1 and reigning Olympic champion races through to an opening match win in straight games. Lu and Prannoy will play tomorrow to keep their campaign alive.
Group A, HS Prannoy 11-21, 21-9, 17-21 Kodai Naraoka: This was a crunch match in this group and Prannoy would have dearly loved to get off to a good start. But all is not over yet, he will hope to beat Lu Guang Zu tomorrow, and if he could do that in straight games, his campaign could still be alive if Lu can defeat Naraoka on Friday. (Of course, this is with the assumption that Axelsen will win all three of his matches in this group which is not far fetched as far assumptions go).
Group A, HS Prannoy 11-21, 21-9, 17-21 Kodai Naraoka: The two points from 17-17... Prannoy will be thinking about those two points as he goes to sleep tonight. He had the match on his racket if he had converted those two. Instead, it is Naraoka celebrating a win in the match up of debutants.
Group A, HS Prannoy 11-21, 21-9, 17-20 Kodai Naraoka: Three match points for Kodai Naraoka.
Group A, HS Prannoy 11-21, 21-9, 17-19 Kodai Naraoka: Prannoy with an error after a superb point construction. Fabulous net shot, but couldn’t finish it.
Group A, HS Prannoy 11-21, 21-9, 17-18 Kodai Naraoka: Prannoy might come to regret this rally. He was doing well on defence, and then pushes the shuttle long.
Group A, HS Prannoy 11-21, 21-9, 17-17 Kodai Naraoka: Prannoy levels it up again.
Group A, HS Prannoy 11-21, 21-9, 15-17 Kodai Naraoka: Prannoy celebrates a Naraoka error, trying to find every inch he can. A brilliant rally follows where Prannoy puts Naraoka under a lot of pressure but the Japanese youngster wins the point. 23 shots that one.
Group A, HS Prannoy 11-21, 21-9, 14-16 Kodai Naraoka: Prannoy’s bread and butter, the backhand, results in an error. And another error... Naraoka can see the finish line now.
Group A, HS Prannoy 11-21, 21-9, 14-14 Kodai Naraoka: Prannoy looked a tad bit frustrated as Kodai went up by 2, but plays a brilliant point at a good tempo to level things up again.
Group A, HS Prannoy 11-21, 21-9, 11-12 Kodai Naraoka: Probably the best rally of the match. Naraoka with a stunning wristy flick at the net showing some great defence but Prannoy wins the rally.
Group A, HS Prannoy 11-21, 21-9, 10-11 Kodai Naraoka: Prannoy with a big roar at the start of this phase... both players will want to impose themselves here. A close finish on the cards.
Group A, HS Prannoy 11-21, 21-9, 9-11 Kodai Naraoka: Prannoy, at the start of the decider from the start side, would have taken this scoreline at the change of ends. He is in touching distance and gets to finish the match on the near side.
Group A, HS Prannoy 11-21, 21-9, 8-8 Kodai Naraoka: A nice run of points for Prannoy saw him go up 7-5 from 2-5 down. It’s a much closer battle at the moment... and Prannoy actually wouldn’t mind this for now.
Group A, HS Prannoy 11-21, 21-9, 2-5 Kodai Naraoka: After two huge points for Prannoy early on, Naraoka inching ahead. And we finally have a rally of note... 25 shots for the longest rally of the match in game 3, tells you something.
Group A, HS Prannoy 11-21, 21-9 Kodai Naraoka: Into the decider, Game 2 HS Prannoy! The Indian took the early lead and was barely troubled here from the near side. Good news for him, he will finish on this side. But will need a decent start.
Group A, HS Prannoy 11-21, 20-9 Kodai Naraoka: Can hardly remember any significant rallies in the 2nd game. Game points galore for HSP.
Group A, HS Prannoy 11-21, 17-7 Kodai Naraoka: We have seen one more match already today with three one-sided scorelines in three games between Christie and Ginting. This is two-thirds there.
Group A, HS Prannoy 11-21, 14-5 Kodai Naraoka: Seems like a decider is imminent in this one. Solid run of points, a big lead for the Indian.
Group A, HS Prannoy 11-21, 11-5 Kodai Naraoka: Super touch at the net by Prannoy, late racket-head change. Delicious. Handy lead for the Indian this time around at the interval.
Group A, HS Prannoy 11-21, 9-3 Kodai Naraoka: Steen Pedersen on air speaks about how Prannoy is one of the cleverest players on tour, has a good badminton brain.
Group A, HS Prannoy 11-21, 8-3 Kodai Naraoka: Prannoy enjoying the near side, good downward shots, nice tempo. The vocal aggression is there too.
Group A, HS Prannoy 11-21, 1-1 Kodai Naraoka: Maybe Prannoy will have better luck from the near side, if he shuttle was sailing long from the far side. He’d love a good start here.
Group A, HS Prannoy 11-21 Kodai Naraoka: Game 1, Naraoka. Prannoy will have to come back from a game down... and in a group where each game could matter for 2nd spot, he’d love to force a decider here if he could.
Group A, HS Prannoy 11-20 Kodai Naraoka: Prannoy not able to lunge forward fully, reckons Gill Clark on air. Knee issues can do that to you. Kodai in control here, big lead. Game points galore.
Group A, HS Prannoy 10-18 Kodai Naraoka: Prannoy has nailed a couple of smashes, but it’s been few and far between Kodai’s consistent rallying.
Group A, HS Prannoy 7-15 Kodai Naraoka: Prannoy is struggling for rhythm, especially with his pushes to the back court. This is a great run of points from 6-7.
Group A, HS Prannoy 7-11 Kodai Naraoka: Kodai loves playing the hustle game, sending the shuttles back repeatedly, has a wonderful movement on court... Prannoy, if he is not at his 100%, will have to keep rallies short and sharp. A nice smash winner to start proceedings after the break, that will help.
Group A, HS Prannoy 6-11 Kodai Naraoka: Prannoy loses a review and next rally, pushes the shuttle long... handy lead for Naraoka at the mid-game interval.
Group A, HS Prannoy 6-8 Kodai Naraoka: Prannoy’s movement seems alright here in the opening stages, not too sharp but not too hampered either. Nice rallies in the last few points.
Group A, HS Prannoy 4-6 Kodai Naraoka: A strong start by Naraoka, but Prannoy lets out a big roar as he plays a lovely spinning shot at the net for a winner. Closing the gap down. The Indian has heavy strapping on his right knee, he had an injury in the last tournament he played on tour.
Group A, HS Prannoy vs Kodai Naraoka: Live updates will begin shortly, warmups are done.
Hello and welcome to our live coverage of badminton from the BWF Tour Finals. HS Prannoy is the only Indian in action at the season-ending tournament after PV Sindhu withdrew through injury.
Prannoy (world No 12) was drawn alongside world No 1 Axelsen in Group A, and the two seeded players will be joined by China’s Lu Guang Zu (world No 17) and Japan’s Kodai Naraoka (world No 14) to complete the quartet.
Prannoy is making his debut in the prestigious season-ending tournament on the BWF World Tour and will fancy his chances of finishing top two in the group.
Screenshots in the blog courtesy BWF / Viacom 18 / Tournament Software