"So well deserved & hard earned" - Twitter erupts as HS Prannoy wins his first BWF World Tour title at Malaysia Masters

HS Prannoy delighted Indian badminton lovers on Sunday, May 28, with a 21-19, 13-21, 12-18 win over Weng Hong Yang to claim the Super 500 Malaysia Masters title in Kuala Lumpur. It was the World No. 9's first title on the BWF World Tour and his first individual international trophy in six years.

The only other time Prannoy had made it to any final on the current BWF World Tour was at the 2022 Swiss Open, where he went down against Jonatan Christie in straight games.

In the last few years, the Keralite had built a reputation for being just a giant slayer. He would regularly upset quite a few top names of the sport but would ultimately fail to convert those wins into a title. A series of injuries too didn't help his cause.

Seeing Prannoy finally string together the vital wins to lay his hands on a trophy at the age of 30 impressed badminton fans on social media. With the qualification period for the Paris Olympics 2024 having already started, this was indeed a crucial win for the Indian, as many of them pointed out.

Twitterati went abuzz with congratulatory messages pouring in for the India No. 1 men's singles shuttler right after his 94-minute battle against the 34th-ranked Weng Hong Yang.

Here are some of the best reactions:

Massive win for HS Prannoy who beats Weng Hong Yang of China 21 -19 13-21 21-18 to win the Malaysia Masters title. This is his first individual title in 6 years and first World Tour 500 or higher win since 2014. He had the big individual wins but now he's strung them together https://t.co/Sch9f5F7iO

Don't think any men's singles player in the last couple of decades beat top 5/top 10 players as regularly as HS Prannoy without having a single Superseries/World Tour 500+ title

So happy for him that he finally has a World Tour 500 title

#MalaysiaMasters2023 #MalaysiaMasters

Soak it in.
HS Prannoy with his first World Tour title.

#BadmintonMalaysia #MalaysiaMasters2023 https://t.co/qsqi1PpRbc

I know his legs might be coming off, such a week of badminton it is has been. And I am grateful to the commentators about how a lot of talk was around Prannoy's game. How his complete game play was being cherished,also his switch of legs to leap into his deep forehead got noticed https://t.co/mXi26uMpeP

First BWF World Tour Title for HS Prannoy! ❤️🇮🇳

#Badminton #MalaysiaMasters2023 #SKIndianSports #CheerForAllSports https://t.co/Gxi3qUOls4

FINALLY!! HS PRANNOY is a World Tour Champion!! 👏🏾👏🏾🇮🇳🇮🇳

After all these years, he's gone all the way!!! 🏆

Incredible match, and an incredible tournament!! 😅😅

HIGHLY Deserved!!

And what a time to do it as well, setting down an early marker in the Indian Oly MS Qual stakes!

Finally The Quarter-Final Jinx is broken and how??

HS PRANNOY is MALAYSIA MASTERS CHAMPION🏆🥳😍
Becoming more Consistent day by day🔥 🇮🇳 https://t.co/L6chs4g4iV

Winning his 1️⃣st ever #BWFWorldTour title in style 💥🥳

@himantabiswa | @sanjay091968 | @lakhaniarun1

📸: @badmintonphoto

#MalaysiaMasters2023
#IndiaontheRise
#Badminton https://t.co/JcrokGQYtB

🥇🇮🇳 THE GIANT SLAYER! Prannoy HS brings home the gold after an intense battle against Weng Hong Yang of China at the Malaysia Masters 2023.

🎉 Congratulations, Prannoy!

📷 BFW• #MalaysiaMasters2023 #IndiaontheRise #Badminton #BharatArmy https://t.co/DYJ1XCMGop

Prannoy on 🔝of the Podium 😍

The Wait ends 💥

@himantabiswa | @sanjay091968 | @lakhaniarun1

📸: @badmintonphoto

#MalaysiaMasters2023
#IndiaontheRise
#BadmintonMalaysia https://t.co/mLJhDDBQNl

5 hours 46 minutes in 5 matches

4 matches that went to 3 games

HS Prannoy finally has a World Tour 500 title

So well deserved & hard earned

#MalaysiaMasters2023

Indians to win a men's singles Superseries or World Tour 500+ title (in last 20 years)

Kidambi Srikanth 6 titles
B Sai Praneeth 1 title
Lakshya Sen 1 title

HS Prannoy 1 title

Prannoy is just the 4th

#MalaysiaMasters2023 #MalaysiaMastersSuper500

PRANNOY WINS HIS MAIDEN WORLD TOUR TITLE

The Giant-Killer defeated Weng Hongyang 🇨🇳in a thriller 21-19,13-21,21-18 to clinch the Malaysian Masters 2023

Only the 3rd Indian to win after Saina, Sindhu

What a run he had to play with the same intensity throughout the match https://t.co/cCwYL9NQs9

What a campaign it has been for Prannoy to win 4 matches in deciding set 🤯🤯 twitter.com/BWFScore/statu…

Prannoy kept believing, he kept believing throughout the week
The wait is over for him🥹
For the final points he went all out, for the big winners,even some went out but he kept going.Many believed he couldn't go beyond SF but he kept saying he working on it, and here is the work https://t.co/mDpxRnj1Ku

HS Prannoy.
this man has beaten Lin Dan, Lee Chong Wei, Taufik Hidayat to Kento Momota and Viktor Axelsan.. But I always had a feel he's unlucky where he couldn't get pass semifinals in big tournaments.. Now he has achieved what he deserves since a long time.. ❤️ @PRANNOYHSPRI https://t.co/TIXooUGQDm

Prannoy Haseena SunilKumar wins the Malaysia Masters Title

Prannoy wins his first world tour title as he overcomes the tricky Chinese youngster in an absolute thrilling decider lasting 93 minutes

An emotional win that too 😭😭 https://t.co/MyzGEhKCyq

HS Prannoy beat All England Open champion and World Championships medalist en route to Malaysia Masters glory

HS Prannoy at #MalaysiaMasters2023

R32: Beat World C'ships 🥉medalist Chou Tien Chen
R16: Beat All England🥇Li Shifeng
QF: Beat Asian Games 🥉 medalist Kenta Nishimoto
SF: Beat Christian Adinata who beat former WR 1 Srikanth in QF
F: Beat Weng Hongyang who beat Momota & Ginting

It hadn't been an easy week at all for HS Prannoy at the Malaysia Masters but he played some fearless brand of badminton under pressure to create history. Having lost to World No. 6 Chou Tien Chen just a little over a week ago at the Sudirman Cup, Prannoy needed to bring his best to the fore when they crossed swords again this week. This time, the Indian ran out a 16-21, 21-14, 21-13 winner over the 2022 World Championships bronze medalist.

Prannoy then upset the reigning All England Open champion Li Shi Feng 13-21, 21-16, 21-11. In the quarterfinals, he accounted for the 2018 Asian Games bronze medalist Kenta Nishimoto 25-23, 18-21, 21-13.

The 30-year-old then advanced to the final when giant-killer Christian Adinata retired while trailing 17-19 in the first game of their semifinal clash. In the summit clash, the Indian edged China's Weng Hong Yang, a 2022 Asian Championships bronze medalist, in three grueling games.

Prannoy's exceptional self-belief has now made him the first-ever Indian to win the men's singles title at the Malaysia Masters and the third Indian champion overall after PV Sindhu and Saina Nehwal. With some key tournaments lined up over the next few weeks, the World No. 9 will be keen to carry his rich vein of form forward.