Prannoy enters second successive final at Indonesian Masters

Young Indian shuttler H S Prannoy entered his second successive final after beating Malaysia's Daren Liew in the men's singles event at the $1,25,000 Indonesian Masters Grand Prix Gold.

Fifth seed Prannoy, who finished runners-up at the $50,000 Vietnam Grand Prix in Hochiminh City last week, edged out Liew, seeded ninth, 21-14, 14-21, 21-14 in a close to an hour semi-final clash.

The Indian will take on the winner of the other semi-final between qualifier Firman Abdul Kholik of Indonesia and Malaysia's Zulfadli Zulkiffli in the final on Sunday.

The 22-year-old Prannoy, who had beaten Liew, a former top 10 player, during their only encounter at the 2012 Malaysia Open GP Gold, fought back from 5-8 down to eventually break off at 12-12 to earn the bragging rights.

In the second game, Liew turned the tables on the Indian as he opened up a 7-3 lead early on and even though Prannoy reduced the gap to 8-9, the Malaysian didn't allow him to come any closer after that to bounce back into contest.

Jolted by the second game loss, Prannoy zoomed ahead 5-0 in the decider and entered the break with a slight edge at 11-9. The Indian held on to his nerves after that even as Liew crumbled under pressure.

Prannoy won a silver medal in Boys' singles at 2010 Summer Youth Olympics.

Image: HS Prannoy

Photograph: Robertus Pudyanto/Getty Images