India’s HS Prannoy stormed into the men’s singles final of the Malaysia Masters 2023 here on Saturday after his opponent Christian Adinata of Indonesia pulled out of the semi-final due to a knee injury.
World No. 9 Prannoy was leading 19-17 when Adinata lost her footing on the landing after returning and twisted her left knee, leaving the Indonesian shuttler writhing in pain. Prannoy and the Indonesian coach immediately parted ways before the 21-year-old Adinata, the 2019 World Junior Championships winner, was escorted off the court. This will be Prannoy’s first final of the season and second after finishing runner-up at the Swiss Open last year.
India’s HS Prannoy has been in sensational form in Malaysia. He defeated Chou Tien Chen, Li Shi Feng and Madrid Masters 2023 winner Kenta Nishimoto en route to the semis.
Prannoy made a clear statement of intent by winning the first seven points of the match. However, world No. 57 Christian Adinata, who defeated Prannoy’s compatriot and former world No. 1 Kidambi Srikanth for his place in the semis, mounted a solid comeback to level things up at 15-15. With Prannoy leading 19-17, Christian Adinata suffered an unfortunate injury. After that, he had to pull out of the match, handing the win to the Indian badminton player.
HS Prannoy will face the China’s Weng Hong Yang in the Malaysia Masters 2023 title decider on Sunday. Yang beat Chinese Taipei’s Lin Chun-Yi in the other semi-final clash. This will be Prannoy’s first final appearance since losing the decider of the 2022 Swiss Open to Jonatan Christie last year.
PV Sindhu, however, could not make it to the women’s singles title clash of the Malaysia Masters 2023. She lost 14-21, 17-21 to Indonesia’s Gregoria Mariska Tunjung. This was Sindhu’s second defeat in a row after seven wins against the world number nine Indonesian. The two-time former champion here, Sindhu could not play her attacking game. Tunjung controlled the rallies with her solid defense and her hard strokes to finish off the points.
