A semifinal finish earned him a bronze. The 31-year-old became the fifth Indian man to win a medal at the Worlds after Prakash Padukone, Sai Praneeth, Kidambi Srikanth and Lakshya Sen.
While Srikanth won a silver in 2021, the rest bagged bronze medals. PV Sindhu is the only Indian to win the championship (2019) while Saina won a silver and bronze.
Sindhu has five medals — one 1 gold, two silver and two bronze. Prannoy continued the tradition of an Indian winning at least a medal at the Worlds since 2013. Prannoy looked like continuing the momentum that saw him oust world No. 1 Viktor Axelsen in the semis when he won the first game, as he thwarted a late charge by Vitidsarn.
Trailing 14-19, Vitidsarn reduced it to 17-19 as Prannoy faltered. Vitidsarn’s error in judgement on the backline helped Prannoy wrest three game points. The Thai saved one before Prannoy won a net duel. Vitidsarn pushed Prannoy to the back of the court and engaged him in long rallies in the second. From 8-7 he made it 11-7 and then 15-10.
Though Prannoy reduced the deficit to two points, Vitidsarn scored the next six points to force the decider. In the third game, the 23-yearold Thai secured a 5-1 lead as Prannoy struggled to adjust to the pace.
The Thai made some diving returns and controlled the net and was 11-7 ahead at the mandatory change of courts. Though Prannoy tried to up the ante he was unable to find gaps.
The closest he came was 13-16. Vitidsarn will play the winner of the semifinal between Kodai Naraoka of Japan and Anders Antonsen of Denmark in the final. This is the second consecutive final for Vitidsarn. Marin stops Yamaguchi Carolina Marin, the only woman three-time world champion, stopped Akane Yamaguchi from replicating her feat at the Worlds. The Spaniard won 23-21, 21-13 in the semis. Marin, who is making a comeback from her second knee injury, will face top seed An Se Young.
The South Korean world No.1 downed third seed Chen Yu Fei of China 21-19, 21-15. Kim Astrup and Anders Skaarup Rasmussen, who shocked Satwiksairaj Rankireddy-Chirag Shetty on Friday, reached the men’s doubles final with a hard-fought 17-21, 21-18, 21-19 victory against China’s Liang Wei Keng and Wang Chang.
Other results (SFs, women’s doubles): 1-Chen Qing Chen/Jia Yi Fan (Chn) bt 6-Zhang Shu Xian/Zheng Yu (Chn) 21-14, 21-16; 11-Apriyani Rahayu/Siti Fadia Silva Ramadhanti (Ina) bt 3-Kim So Yeong/Kong Hee Yong (Kor) 21-9, 22-20. Mixed doubles: 1-Zheng Si Wei/Huang Ya Qiong (Chn) bt 8-Jiang Zhen Bang/Wei Ya Xin 21-18, 21-16; 5-Seo Seung Jae/Chae Yu Jung (Kor) bt 2-Yuta Watanabe/Arisa Higashino (Jpn) 21-15, 21-13.
