Badminton World C'ship: Prannoy eases into second round

<p>Nanjing [China], July 30 (ANI): Ace Indian shuttler HS Prannoy kicked off his campaign at the ongoing Badminton World Championship with a thumping straight games win over Abhinav Manota of New Zealand in the opening round here at Nanjing Olympic Sports Centre on Monday.</p><p>The 25-year-old outclassed his New Zealand opponent Manota 21-12, 21-11 in a one-sided first-round clash that lasted 28 minutes.</p><p>Prannoy, who missed last year's World Championship owing to an injury, completely dominated the match right from the onset and gave no chances of revival to Manota in a two-game match.</p><p>Taking the opening serve, Prannoy took the initial lead and by the mid-game interval, he was leading the first game 11-4.</p><p>A series of unforced errors by Manota gave the Indian shuttler the opportunity to settle in and soon he was way out of reach of the New Zealand player after gaining a good lead of nine points.</p><p>Back-to-back smashes from the eleventh-seeded Indian and Manota's failure to pose any challenge helped Prannoy win the first game 21-12 in 14 minutes.</p><p>Prannoy took the opening serve in the second game as well and stunned his opponent by earning four back to back points.</p><p>Capitalizing on the opening game, Prannoy took the initial lead of five points and soon the scoreline read 16-8 in favour of the Indian shuttler.</p><p>Manota hit back with a strong rally but the effort was not enough to get past Prannoy who was on a roll.</p><p>Eventually, Prannoy registered a convincing 21-11 win in the second game to head into the second round of the championship.</p><p>Meanwhile, ace Indian shuttler Saina Nehwal will play her opening match of the tournament on July 31. (ANI)</p><br/><center><em><p>This story has not been edited. It has been published as provided by ANI</p></em></center>

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