HS Prannoy wil next face Le Duc Phat of Vietnam while Kristin Kuuba of Estonia awaits PV Sindhu.
Paris: India’s HS Prannoy opened his maiden campaign in Olympics with a straight-game win over lesser-ranked Fabian Roth of Germany in men’s singles competition on Sunday. The 32-year-old from Kerala, who was down with chikungunya for almost two weeks ahead of the Paris Games, gave a good display of fitness and showed his mettle during the 21-18 21-12 win over Roth in a 45-minute match of Group K.
He will next face Le Duc Phat of Vietnam on Wednesday in the second and final group match. Prannoy was tested by the world No. 82 Roth, who engaged the Indian in some quality rallies. After an initial duel, Roth was up 14-11 at one stage but an alert Prannoy upped the pace to make it 19-17.
A sharp smash gave him two game points and he converted them after his opponent erred at the net. Prannoy, who had won bronze medals at the World Championships and the Asian Games last year, looked more at ease in the second game as he found his range and constructed the rallies well to move to 7-3.
Prannoy’s net game, attacking shots and deft touch helped him to move to 16-11 in a jiffy. A backhand stroke handed the Indian eight match points and he sealed the affair after Roth sprayed a shot wide. Earlier on the day, two-time Olympic medallist Indian shuttler PV Sindhu began her Paris Olympics campaign with a resounding straight game win over Maldives’ Fathimath Abdul Razzaq.
The gulf of class between the two players was evident as Sindhu, vying for a third Olympic medal, took just 29 minutes to dispatch her lower-ranked opponent 21-9 21-6 in the Group M fixture. The 10th seeded Indian, who won a silver medal in the Rio Games in 2016 and a bronze in the last edition in Tokyo, will take on world No. 75 Kristin Kuuba of Estonia in her second group match on Wednesday.