India’s latest badminton heavyweights Satwik Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty were warming up on the court to his right while India’s number one men’s singles player HS Prannoy was standing on the other side of the net across him, but for a while at least on Thursday at the India Open, it seemed as most of the eyes at New Delhi’s KD Jadhav stadium were on the 22-year-old Priyanshu Rajawat.
But what was shaping up to be an intriguing battle between the present and future hope of Indian men’s singles badminton concluded on a less than satisfying note and not without some concern as early in the second game, Rajawat’s right foot buckled under him as he attempted to make a net shot against the 31-year-old.
Rajawat shook off the incident, took medical assistance at the break and valiantly attempted to battle on with a compromised limb but eventually succumbed 22-20, 14-21, 14-21 to Prannoy.
Before the unfortunate slip, though, for about twenty minutes against the World number 9, Rajawat gave a glimpse into his precocious ability that was exciting the audience. Rajawat, who was the only Indian men’s singles player to win a title on the World Tour last year (claiming the Orleans Open), is currently India’s fourth highest-ranked men’s singles player (currently world-ranked 28th), but his graph is only trending upwards.
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Indeed, a day ago, Rajawat had set up the encounter against Prannoy by beating India number two and former world silver medallist Lakshya Sen. Ahead of his second round match, he had referred to Prannoy, who trains alongside him at Hyderabad’s Gopichand Academy as ‘bade bhaiya’ (elder brother). The last time the two had played, Prannoy had brushed off Rajawat’s challenge in straight games at the Australia Open in August last year.
Rajawat had set up the encounter against Prannoy by beating India number two and former world silver medallist Lakshya Sen. | Photo Credit: MOORTHY RV
There would be little by way of deference in New Delhi. He routinely beat Prannoy at the net, consistently left him wrongfooted with trademark cross-court half smashes whipped from behind his head. The one that took him into the lead at 16-15 in the first game is what highlight reels are made of. Then, when Prannoy used all his grit to close in at 20-20, the youngster held his nerve to win his first game 22-20 against the player with nearly a decade more experience on the international circuit.
A few unforced errors – unavoidable if you are someone who goes for his shots as much as Rajawat does – let Prannoy get off to an early lead, but it was the twist to Rajawat’s right ankle while going for a net shot that ultimately sealed his fate.
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“The last time I played Prannoy bhaiyya in Australia, I lost very easily. This time, after the first game, I thought I could win it in two games. But then I twisted my ankle during the rally. I usually have tape around my ankle, which tore off completely,” he’d say later.
His thoughts were no longer simply on winning the match. “It (ankle) was hurting. I couldn’t jump without pain. I was very worried as I thought I have more matches in the next week also (he’s scheduled to fly out for the Indonesia Masters starting January 24th).”
Rajawat played the rest of the match without hitting his trademark cross-court half-smashes with any venom even once. He tried to work Prannoy around the court and force him into errors, but he was largely hoping for errors that his senior compatriot wasn’t going to provide.
While there was no real threat any more, Prannoy had seen enough to appreciate his opponent. “It’s really unfortunate that he twisted his ankle in the second game. He was playing well before that. He was still fighting hard even at the end when it was clear that his ankle was troubling him,” Prannoy said.
Indeed, while he had won this encounter, Prannoy marked the youngster out as someone to watch out for in the future. “Priyanshu has come up quite well in the last one and a half or two years. He has a lot of strokes, and it’s tough to defend against him. It’s good to have youngsters of his calibre not just to spar with but as someone who can serve as an example for the other youngsters in the ecosystem. You are going to see some big things from him over the next four or five years,” Prannoy said.
While Rajawat himself didn’t have a terrible tournament – he will return with a win over Lakshya and a ranking that will probably rise next week courtesy his second-round finish at a World Tour 750 event – he says he’s only half satisfied. “I just wish I didn’t get an injury during my match. That was disappointing. I will get my ankle checked out later, and I hope I will be able to play normally in the next tournament,” he says.
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