Thailand GPG 2017: B Sai Praneeth stages comeback against Jonatan Christie to win men's singles title

Indian third seed B Sai Praneeth captured the men’s singles title in the $1,20,000 Thailand Open Grand Prix badminton championships in Bangkok on Sunday. Praneeth defeated Indonesian fourth seed Jonatan Christie 17-21, 21-18, 21-19 in an hour and 11 minutes in the final. This is Praneeth’s second consecutive title win, following the Singapore Open victory. He had reached the finals of Syed Modi International in January at Hyderabad, where he lost to Sameer Verma. Praneeth, ranked 24 in the world, did not have an ideal start in the final as he went down in the opening game. “I was just focusing on the rallies. It was a difficult match. The rallies were going too long. But I tried to slowly and slowly build up and I am happy I could win. I thank everyone who supported me,” PTI quoted Praneeth after the match. [caption id=“attachment_3516443” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File image of Sai Praneeth. PTI[/caption] The Indonesian opened up a 3-0 lead but Praneeth soon caught up with him at 4-4 and it was a close battle till 7-7 before Christie broke free to maintain a slender edge. At one stage, the Indonesian shuttler was leading 14-11 but Praneeth kept breathing down his neck and made it 14-14 with three straight points. After another couple of close points, Christie found himself 18-17 up and quickly sealed off the opening game with three points on the trot. Making a brilliant comeback in the second game, Praneeth surged ahead 5-0 and then 9-3 but failed to maintain his huge lead as his opponent won six successive points to make it 9-9. Thereafter, it was a neck-and-neck battle till 15-15 before the Indian took a slight two-point lead at 17-15. Leading 17-16, Praneeth managed to bag three more points to move ahead 20-16. Although he wasted two game points, he eventually won it 21-18. In the decider, Christie broke away at 2-2 to open up a 7-2 lead and then to 8-3. However, the Indian slowly made his way up with five consecutive points to reduce the margin to 7 -8. Finally Praneeth caught up with him at 9-9 and what followed was a keenly contested affair with none of the shuttlers sparing an inch to each other. At 17-17, Praneeth won two crucial points to take a 19-17 lead but only to concede the advantage. Christie bagged the next two points to tie at 19-19. However, the Indian held on to his nerves to reel off two quick points to wrap up the match and the title in his favour. India’s B Sai Praneeth had sailed into the final with a straight-game win but Olympic medallist Saina Nehwal’s campaign ended in the semi-final of the $120000 Thailand Grand Prix Gold badminton tournament on Saturday. The third seeded Praneeth comfortably beat Pannawit Thongnuam of Thailand 21-11 21-15 in their men’s singles semi-final that lasted 36 minutes. In the semi-final, Praneeth started strongly and went into the first break with a four-point lead, paving the way for an easy win in the first game. The Thai tried to stage a fightback in the second game but Praneeth was equal to the task, quickly reducing a three-point deficit. Thongnuam made Praneeth work hard for his points, but the Indian had the last laugh. However, London Olympic bronze medallist Saina had to bite the dust as she lost in straight games to Thailand’s Busanan Ongbamrungphan 19-21 18-21 in 53 minutes. The world number 11 Saina, who made the women’s singles semi-final, was seeded second in the tournament, while her opponent had entered the tournament as fourth seed. With inputs from agencies