Feather on the cap for Prannoy and Indian badminton

Malayalee player HS Prannoy clinched the Malaysia Masters Badminton Men's Singles title to the joy of Indian sports fans. Prannoy won the title by defeating China's Weng Hong Yang who is world number 34, in a three-game match with the score of 21-19, 13-21, 21-18. This is the 30-year-old's first BWF World Tour-level title of his career. Prannoy is the son of Sunil Kumar and Haseena, who are natives of Thiruvananthapuram. He took training at Pullela Gopichand Academy, Hyderabad.

Prannoy, who was ranked ninth in the world, started by winning the first game in the final in Malaysia. However, the Chinese player came back strong in the second game. Prannoy scored only 13 points in the second game. Although Weng Hong Yang also excelled in the final game, he could not overpower Prannoy. Prannoy took the third game with a score 21-18 and along with it, the title. With this, Prannoy ended his six-year wait for an international men's singles title on the international badminton circuit.

Prannoy is a player who played a decisive role for the Indian team that won gold in last year's Thomas Cup Team Championship and 2018 Commonwealth Games. However, the last time Prannoy won an individual title was only at the 2017 US Open. Last year, Prannoy was the runner-up in the Swiss Open and the semi-finalist in the Indonesia Open. He often lost titles by a margin. Prannoy, who used to upset even the big players including Lin Dan, used to disappoint when he used to return without being able to cross the hurdle of the final and reach the title.

Prannoy has been performing well in the international badminton circuit for the past two years, despite not having the accolades of titles. The win at the Malaysia Masters is a continuation of that. Prannoy had knocked out All England champion Lee Shi Feng, world number six Chou Tien-Chen, and former champion Kenta Nishimoto in recent days. Prannoy, who reached a career-best seventh rank earlier this month in men's singles, was ranked ninth last week. With this title win his rank will rise again.

Prannoy's title win in Malaysia is a confidence booster for the Indian badminton scene as well. Prannoy, Lakshya Sen and Malayalee women's star Teresa Jolly are on their way to surpassing the heights once achieved by Pullela Gopichand, U Vimal Kumar, Saina Nehwal, and PV Sindhu in Indian badminton. Of course, Kerala can also be proud of this achievement. V Diju, Aparna Balan, Rupesh Kumar, Sanave Thomas and PC Tulasi are stars that have flown from Kerala to international badminton venues. May Prannoy also lift more international titles after them.