Jakarta, 02 September (H.S.): Top seed H.S. Prannoy staged a superb comeback after losing the opening game on Wednesday to advance to the men’s singles Round of 16 at the Indonesia Masters Super 100 badminton tournament. World No. 39 Prannoy defeated Chinese Taipei’s Liao Juo-fu 18-21, 21-15, 21-19 in a contest that lasted one hour and four minutes.

After losing the opening game, Prannoy produced a much-improved performance in the second game to level the contest. The decider saw a closely fought battle between the two players, but Prannoy held his nerve under pressure to secure victory.

Prannoy had received a bye in the opening round. He last competed at the Taipei Open at the end of July, where he was eliminated in the Round of 16. He was subsequently not included in the Indian squad for the BWF World Championships held in New Delhi. Prannoy will face China’s Xuan Chen Zhu in the Round of 16.

Chaliha and Khadba Also Advance to Round of 16

In women’s singles, top seed Asmita Chaliha defeated Thailand’s Pornpicha Choeikeewong 21-17, 23-21 to advance to the Round of 16. Third seed Anmol Kharb beat Hong Kong’s Leung Ka Wing 21-17, 21-9. In another all-Indian clash, Elisha Pal defeated fellow Indian Aakarshi Kashyap 21-13, 21-7.

Ronak and Sunit Also Register Impressive Wins

In men’s singles, Ronak Chouhan defeated China’s Yu Xuan Liu 21-15, 21-18 to win his opening-round match. He then defeated Chinese Taipei’s Tsai Cheng-Han 23-21, 21-19 in the next round to book his place in the Round of 16. In another match, Sunit Dayanand pulled off an upset by defeating third-seeded Chinese player Tian Yao Dong 9-21, 21-18, 21-11. However, Kiran George, Sathish Kumar Karunakaran, Tanya Hemanth and Anwesah Gowda suffered defeats in their respective singles matches.

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Hindusthan Samachar / Jun Sarkar