HS Prannoy continued his good run of form in the calendar year and created some huge upsets including the win against world number one and Olympic champion- Victor Axelsen and former world number 1- Kento Momota. With PV Sindhu opting out of the season closing BWF world tour finals, Prannoy remains the lone warrior to spearhead Indian challenge. The Kerala lad remains in Group A alongside Viktor Axelsen of Denmark, Japan’s Kodai Naraoka and China’s Lu Guang Zu.
Prannoy had a dismal 1-5 head to head record against Axelsen but the Indian emerged victorious when the two met last year in Indonesia Masters. While it will be a tough match against the Dane, Prannoy doesn’t enjoy good record against the other two players in his group. Prannoy, the current world number 12 suffered a defeat against rising star of Japan Kodai Naraoka when they met at Singapore Open in July. He also faced a defeat against China’s Lu Guang Zu in the French Open 2022.
The 30-year-old could not win a single title in the calendar year but his consistent performance earned him a spot at the world tour finals. He finished runner-up at the Swiss Open Super 300, besides reaching the semifinals at the Indonesia Open Super 1000 and Malaysia Masters Super 500 event. He punched above his weight and became an instrumental part of India’s Thomas Cup winning team and won when it mattered the most in the quarter and semi finals encounters.
Previous match report
Prannoy could not cross the barrier of defeating Naraoka in the first round and went down 12-21, 21-9, 17-21 where service error costed him the third game to lose the match. The next two matches become crucial for him and he needs to win at any cost to survive and make it to the semi finals.
Match details
HS Prannoy (India) vs Lu Guang Zu(China)-
Live streaming– The live streaming will be available on Voot mobile application and official website. The TV broadcasting will be done on Sports 18 and Sports 18HD.
Date and match timings- The match will be played on 8th December 2022 from 2:30 PM IST (tentative)
Venue: Bangkok, Thailand
Head to head– Lu Guang Zu leads 1-0
Among others in the field, Chou Tien Chen, Jonatan Christie, Anthony Ginting, and Loh Kean Yew form the Group B in men’s singles category.
