Clearly, Prannoy did not have much left in the tank after yesterday's marathon match that lasted 90 minutes. Lee grabbed his chances well and never let Prannoy settle into the match.
Welcome to the Sportskeeda liveblog of the China Open 2017 second round. Indian national champion HS Prannoy faces Lee Cheuk Yiu of Hong Kong for a place in the quarter-finals.
While Prannoy is World No. 11, Lee is placed at 53 in the world rankings. This is their first meeting.
Prannoy played a marathon first round match that took 1.5 hours to finish. The Indian national champion was 18-21, 8-11 down from where he stormed back to level and held his nerves for an 18-21, 21-16, 21-19 win despite Lee Dong Keun saving two match points.
That match ended at nearly 11.30pm on Wednesday and Prannoy's next match is at 12.30pm on Thursday. So, the schedule is not in his favour, something which he complained about on social media and it might result in Prannoy not getting enough rest.
It remains to be seen if it really has any effect on Prannoy when he takes the court for his second round match.
But it also should be remembered that Prannoy is in the middle of his career-best season. He has reached two Superseries semi-finals, won the National Championships and climbed to a career-high No. 11 in the world rankings.
He believes in himself more and is thus playing more freely these days. With the kind of attitude he has now, Prannoy might just will himself to the finish line, no matter how tired he feels.
