India’s HS Prannoy experienced a frustrating start to the season-opening Malaysia Super 100 badminton tournament as his match against Canada’s Brian Yang was suspended midway due to a leaking roof at the Axiata Arena here on Tuesday. Prannoy, returning to action after the Olympics, was leading 21-12, 6-3 when rainwater began seeping through the roof, forcing play to stop on Court 3 about 25 minutes into the match. After a delay of over an hour, play resumed around 4:15 PM, but the match was halted again as the leak persisted.
Yang was leading 11-9 in the second game when officials decided to suspend the match, which will now resume on Wednesday with the score at 21-12, 9-11.
“Prannoy’s match has been suspended. He will start with the same score tomorrow. A decision regarding other matches will be taken by 8:30 PM,” India coach RMV Gurusaidutt, who was court side, told PTI.
Prannoy had raised the issue with the chair umpire after water started pooling on the left front section of the court. Organisers inspected the area, leading to the suspension.
Matches on Court 2 were also stopped for the same reason, while Court 1 remained operational.
In bizarre scenes, organisers were seen using white towels to dry the courts.
Earlier in the day, India’s women’s doubles duo of Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand easily overcame Ornnicha Jongsathapornparn and Sukitta Suwachai, beating the Thai pair in straight games in the opening round.
The Indian pair, seeded sixth here, won 21-10, 21-10 in just 30 minutes to secure a place in the round of 16.
On a high following their success in the Syed Modi International Super 300 tournament in Lucknow, Treesa and Gayatri faced little challenge from the unseeded Thai pair taking a 17-8 lead in no time.
The second game saw the Thai pair go neck-and-neck till 8-all before Treesa and Gayatri ran away with the game and the match.
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