Kuala lumPur: At the Malaysia Masters Super 500 tournament here on Sunday, star Indian shuttler HS Prannoy defeated China's Weng Hong Yang in the men's singles finals, snapping a six-year title drought. Prannoy played a crucial role in India's epic.

Thomas Cup victory last year but an individual title has eluded him since the 2017 US Open Grand Prix Gold. The Kerala shuttler had come close to breaking his title drought when he reached the finals at Swiss Open last year and signed off at the semifinal stage in Malaysia and the Indonesia Super 1000.Prannoy has battled a series of injuries and health issues before turning his career around in the back end of 2021. In the last two years, he has been the most consistent Indian player in the circuit and yet he was not able to weave it all together in a week to win a big title in the BWF World Tour events.

Prannoy, the ninth-ranked player in the world, finally broke the curse on Sunday when he defeated the 23-year-old Chinese player in an attrition match with an outstanding effort. Prannoy outwitted his opponents this week, including the world's fifth-ranked Chou Tien Chen, the All-England champion Li Shi Feng, and the Japanese player Kenta Nishimoto, in three games. Prannoy's strategy was straightforward: maintain a steady onslaught, collect everything, and watch for mistakes from the opposition.

The Indian used his angled returns to create chances and his economical court mobility helped him to keep pace with his quick left-handed opponent. From 1-3 down, he drew parity at 5-5 after lunging forward to put the shuttle away from Weng.The Chinese stepped ahead but two wide shots meant it was 7-7. Prannoy would, at times, end rallies with a miscued shot at the net, allowing his younger rival to get into leads. A precise down-the-line smash brought the Indian back at 10-10 before Weng smashed on the net. Prannoy kept a conservative approach as the rallies extended. Soon the duo moved to 16-16. After missing out on a few net shots, Prannoy grabbed a couple of points before a relentless attack earned him two game points.

He was guilty of giving a mid-court return and it was punished. Weng next sent his backhand to net, as Prannoy earned the bragging rights. After the change of sides, Weng was 4-0 up after Prannoy went for a flashy return at the net and also hit long twice. A big smash followed by a backhand snap shot got Prannoy going as he moved to a 5-4 lead with a superb backhand block.

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