Indain shuttler HS Prannoy clinched his second Grand Prix Gold badminton tournament title by notching up a straight game victory over Marc Zwiebler of Germany in the summit clash of the Swiss Open. Seeded 13th in the USD 120,000 tournament, Prannoy outclassed seventh seeded Zwiebler 21-18 21-15 in a 45-minute final.

• Prannoy began the match on a confident note and surged to a 7-4 lead in the first game before the German, ranked 19th as compared to the Indian’s 27th, fought his way back into the match.
• The two rivals were tied at 18-18 and it was from there that the Indian took three straight points at a crucial juncture to take the opening game 21-18.
• Top seed in the women’s singles, Saina Nehwal had lost to third seed Wang Yihan of China 11-21 19-21 in the semifinals.

Did You Know?

• Although there existed the game of Battledore and Shuttlecock in 1600’s England, the concept of contemporary badminton was finally developed by the British in the 1800’s from a game called “poon” played in India.
• For the first time, Para-badminton has been included among the first 16 sports in the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games. Paralympics is an International multi-sport event where athletes with physical disabilities compete.
• The fastest racket sport is not Tennis or Squash, It quite correctly is Badminton! The shuttlecock can travel up to 200 mph!