The 31-year-old seeded Indian shuttler HS Prannoy lost the thrilling final in the Australian Open 2023 to the non-seeded Chinese Weng Hongyang.
On Sunday (6 August), India had the hope from HS Prannoy to win the men’s singles in the Australian Open 2023. Weng thrashed Prannoy in the first game (21-9) of the final.
But, the Indian shuttler made an excellent comeback by winning the second game with a 23-21 scoreline. It was the eighth time this year Prannoy recovered from the opening game loss.
The third game was also highly intense, where Prannoy fought hard but lost 20-22. With that game win, Weng won the Australian Open title.
Earlier, Prannoy defeated Hong Kong Lee Cheuk Yiu in the first round (21-18; 16-21; 21-15), Taiwanese Chi Y-j in the second round (19-21; 21-19; 21-13) and Indonesian Anthony Sinisuka Ginting in the quarterfinal (21-16; 17-21; 14-21).
In the semi-final, Prannoy faced the 21-year-old Indian youngster Priyanshu Rajawat, who just comfortably beat Srikanth Kidambi in the quarterfinal (21-13; 21-8). Prannoy won against Rajawat in the semi-final (21-18; 21-12) and qualified for the final.
Australian Open 2023 (Badminton): Finalists
Event | Champions (Nationality) | Runners-up (Nationality) |
Men’s singles | Weng Hongyang (Chinese) | HS Prannoy (Indian) |
Women’s singles | Beiwen Zhang (American) | Kim Ga-eun (South Korean) |
Men’s doubles | Kang Min-hyuk & Seo Seung-jae (South Korean) | Takuro Hoki & Yugo Kobayashi (Japanese) |
Women’s doubles | Kim So-yeong & Kong Hee-yong (South Korean) | Liu Shengshu & Tan Ning (Chinese) |
Mixed doubles | Feng Yanzhe & Huang Dongping (Chinese) | Hiroki Midorikawa & Natsu Saito (Japanese) |
