Basel, Aug 20:
Indian shuttler H S Prannoy stunned multiple-time Olympic and world champion Lin Dan in a hard-fought match while Sai Praneeth outplayed Lee Dong Keun to enter the pre-quarterfinals of the World Championships here today.
Prannoy, unseeded in the tournament, beat the highly-decorated Chinese 21-11, 13-21, 21-7 in a second round match that lasted one hour and two minutes.
In the pre-quarterfinals, Prannoy faces an uphill task against top seed Kento Momota of Japan, who downed Luis Enrique Penalver of Spain 21-10, 21-7.
Prannoy completely dominated the first game and led all the way after 2-2. The Indian was ahead at 10-5 and then raced to 19-11 before pocketing it.
In five meetings between the two, Prannoy has emerged victorious thrice. The Chinese won in the last meeting, at the Australian Open in June.
Lin, who had also won gold in the 2008 Olympics, apart from seven World Championships titles, roared back in the second game. They were tied 5-5 but from there on, the Chinese legend did not give any chance to Prannoy as he easily won the second game to take the match to the decider.
Prannoy, however, was not going to be intimidated by the reputation of the former world number one. The Indian reserved the best for the last and just like the first game, Prannoy left Lin far behind after 4-4 and won the deciding game easily to wrap up the match. (PTI)
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