Malaysia Masters 2022: HS Prannoy fails to make to the final after loss to Angus Ng Ka-long

HS Prannoy who was India's last hope for Malaysia Masters 2022, has failed to make to the final. He has lost to Angus Ng Ka-long by 21-17, 9-21, 21-17 at the Axiata Arena, Kuala Lampur on Saturday. Prannoy was the last remaining Indian in the tournament after PV Sindhu, who dropped out in the quarterfinals on Friday. The 29-year old, Prannoy has beat Kanta Tsuneyama of Japan to qualify in the semifinals. But unfortunately, he has to end his journey in here and give up the dreams of his first BWF title this time.

Prannoy and Angus both had a 4-4 record of winning with the Indian badminton star winning the last three meetings - BWF World Championship 2021, German Open 2022 and Indonesia Open 2022. But,  Prannoy's run of 3 straight wins against Angus comes to an end after losing to Angus in the Malaysia Masters 2022.

Also read: Malaysia Masters 2022: PV Sindhu dropped out of the Malaysia Masters after losing to Tai Tzu Ying

Match report:

In the opening game, Prannoy marched ahead to a 5-3 lead with two exquisite cross court jump smashes. The Indian player didn't try to hurry but rather he was slowly constructing the rallies and punishing the weak returns with a pitch-perfect placement. He had a four-point cushion at the break. Ng Ka Long tried to use his smashes to gather points but he was guilty of missing some easy chances as Prannoy maintained his four-point lead till 17-13. Prannoy then gave two points away with a couple of miscued shots before prevailing in a parallel exchange and soon grabbed four game point opportunities. He missed the first one before closing out the opening game with another perfect placement at the baseline.

However, after the change of sides, Prannoy struggled to control the shuttle in drifty conditions while Ng Ka Long showed better execution to keep a firm grip on the rallies. The result was a six-point advantage at the mid-game interval. With errors piling up, Prannoy soon fell far behind and the Indian decided to let go of the second game to save his energy for the decider.

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In the third game, Prannoy once again looked in control of the proceedings initially as he quickly established a 8-3 lead but the Hong Kong player then scripted a sensational recovery, winning eight of the next nine points, to enter the interval with an important two-point lead.

Angus first drew parity with Prannoy finding the net and then punished the Indian's weak returns.
After changing ends for the last time, Prannoy tried to instill pace in the rallies but Ng Ka Long managed to lead 16-12. The fact that Prannoy went long at least thrice added to his agony. He produced two body smashes to narrow the lead down to 16-17 to conjure hopes of a turnaround. But a relentless Angus won a long rally and then grabbed three match points. He converted it with a delightful block.