BWF World Tour Finals: Prannoy loses to Lu Guang Zu

MUMBAI: Indian shuttler H.S Prannoy continued to struggle in the BWF World Tour Finals as he suffered another narrow defeat in his second group stage match in Bangkok, Thailand on Thursday. The second successive defeat virtually dashed his hopes of reaching the semifinals from Group A.

Prannoy, the lone Indian in the fray in the year-end competition, had started with a defeat against Japan's Kodai Naraoka on Wednesday. On Thursday, he needed to win his second match to maintain his chances of advancing to the next stage.

But Prannoy went down to China's Lu Guang Zu in his second Group A match, losing 21-23, 21-17, 19-21 in the one hour and 24 minutes encounter.

Prannoy, 12th in the world rankings and started the match with heavy strapping on his right knee, lost the first game but came back strongly in the second game against the world No. 17.

He led in the third and deciding game but could not carry on the momentum to eventually lose 21-23, 21-17, 19-21 in one hour and 24 minutes.

Prannoy and his Chinese opponent went neck and neck till 3-3 before Lu Guang Zu opened a lead and to extended it to 13-10. But Prannoy caught up with him at 15-15 and led 19-16. The Chinese once again caught up with him at 20-20. Lu Guang Zu won the next two points from 21-21 to win the first game.

Prannoy scripted a turnaround in the decider by edging ahead to 19-18 after trailing 10-14. However, unforced errors in the crucial stages by the Indian badminton player meant Lu Guang Zu scored the final three points in the match to stay alive in the tournament.

This was HS Prannoy's second loss against the 26-year-old Chinese shuttler. HS Prannoy, 30, was beaten by Lu Guang Zu in the round of 16 of the French Open in October.

In his last match in Group A, Prannoy will play world No. 1, Viktor Axelsen of Denmark, on Friday and will be hoping to end his campaign with a victory.