Will meet China's yang in the final
HS Prannoy ensured Indian presence in the final of the Malaysia Masters as his semifinal opponent, Christian Adinata of Indonesia, retired while trailing 19-17 in the first game. But PV Sindhu crashed out after her 14-21, 17-21 defeat to Gregoria Mariska Tunjung of Indonesia on Saturday.
This is Prannoy's first final of the year - his last being at the Swiss Open in March 2022. Prannoy was off in a flash and led 11-1. After the break, Adinata rallied to win 14 of the 17 points.
From 1-12, Adinata caught up with the Indian at 15-15. Prannoy then earned a point with a drop and slowly regained control. At 18-17, Adinata jumped on the backline to execute a smash and injured his left knee.
Prannoy was the first to rush to his opponent's aid. Soon, the Indonesian coach and officials came to Adinata's side but the former world junior champion had to be wheeled out as he was in severe pain. In the final, Prannoy will face Weng Hong Yang of China who beat Lin Chun-Yi of Chinese Taipei in straight games 21-13, 21-19.
Sindhu committed a lot of errors in the women's semifinal . She was unable to control the pace of the game as Tunjung came up with some brilliant crosscourt net shots and straight smashes.
Surprisingly, Sindhu failed to execute her s mashes. Her first smash came at 14-18 in the second game by which time the contest had tilted in favour of Tunjung.
The Indonesian has improved a lot and kept the Indian guessing throughout the 44-minute contest. She defended well and managed to push the Indian to one side of the court before firing a straight smash. She also won many points at the net.
