5 min readMay 27, 2026 04:35 PM IST HS Prannoy hadn’t defeated Top 5 regular, Indonesian Jonatan Christie since January of 2021. In fact he had only one win to show from his last 8 matches against the consistent Jojo since 2018. But top players – Jojo is World No 5 currently – have always known how dangerous the 33-year-old Indian can be. On Wednesday he defeated the Indonesian 10-21, 21-12, 21-18 with a typical Prannoying-playbook at the Super 750 Singapore Open. In the Singapore Indoor Stadium which commentators call the ‘Hairdryer arena’ because of its bellicose drift, that maddens the shuttle flight, Prannoy showed what complete, cerebral badminton can be. His ranking hovers close to his age these days, it’s No 35 this week. But the double-medallist from Thomas Cups, who has medals at World Championships, Asian Games, Asian Championships and the Malaysia Masters, took out Christie with a mix of psychological pressure and supreme racquet skills. It tends to get overlooked because Kidambi Srikanth’s game was so elegant and Lakshya Sen’s style is …