21-year-old Priyanshu Rajawat of India defeated Magnus Johannesen of Denmark to win his maiden BWF World Tour Super 300 title. It was a thrilling final of the Orleans Masters 2023. Rajawat was part of the Indian team that won the Thomas Cup in 2022.
In a nail-biting finish, Rajawat beat world number 49, Johannesen 21-15, 19-21, 21-16 in 68 minutes final to clinch the biggest title of his career. Both shuttlers reached the final after coming from qualifiers and displayed superb performances but Priyanshu proved himself better through his winners.
It was the first match between Priyanshu and Johannesen. Both were looking for a breakthrough win but Priyanshu came out victorious through his controlled aggression. Unleashing a forehand cross-court jump smash to trouble the opponent was a trademark shot of Rajawat.
Priyanshu made a solid start in the final but Johannesen kept a good length not allowing the Indian to play his attacking game initially. However, Priyanshu soon got command of the game with his range of the shot and moved to 6-5 with two aggressive returns on Johannesen’s backhand taking the score to 9-7 in favour of Indian. Priyanshu then produced a backhand smash and unleashed another winner to take a three-point cushion at the mid-game interval. Priyanshu got into position early to bring down the shuttle with a thwack through his great anticipation. The score moved to 18-11 with Priyanshu’s two cross-court smashes.
After making some errors Priyanshu unleashed a looping return on the backline to move to five-game points and clinched the opening game with a cross-court winner.
In the second game, Johannesen improved his defense and Priyansu made some errors taking the score to 6-3 in Dane’s favour. Priyanshu repeatedly found the net taking the score to 8-5 in Dane’s favour. Two clear winners from Priyanshu kept him in the game but Johannesen succeded to go into the break with a three-point cushion. The pool of errors committed by Priyanshu allowed the Dane to increase the gap to 14-9.
With some accurate winners, Priyanshu bounced back to 17-15. But Dane again grabbed the lead and jumped to three game points with Priyanshu committing errors. Priyanshu saved two game points but he sent the third one to the net. Dane won the second game taking the match to the decider.
In the final game, with a series of winners, Priyanshu won five points on the trot to take 5-0 lead then a lead of 7-2. Johannesen then strengthened his defense to narrow down the lead to 7-8 after winning an incredible 54 shots rally.
Priyanshu committed a few errors as a result score was equal at 9-9. But after producing some fine winners Priyanshu managed to gain a small two-point cushion.
In the final changeover, Priyanshu extended his lead to four points after winning a superb rally. Priyanshu continued his control of the game through the superb rally and finally got seven championship points. Priyanshu hit wide thrice and finally pushed the shuttle at the back-court on a return to the serve to win the championship.
Priyanshu defeated compatriot Kiran George 21-18, 21-13 in the first round. He defeated top seed K Nishimoto of Japan 21-8, 21-16 in the second round. Nishimoto won the Madrid Spains Masters title last week In the quarter-final he defeated Yi Chi 21-18, 21-18. In the semi-final, he defeated Nhat Nguyen 21-12, 21-9. in a straight game.
Priyanshu a shuttler from Dhar, Madhya Pradesh is a trainee at Pullela Gopichand Academy in Hyderabad since 2010. Priyanshu, a son of Rajasthani Xerox buiseness owner started playing badminton at the age of six. Two years later his game impressed coach Gopichand during an event in Gwalior. Gopichand soon took Priyanshu under his wing where he has been trained since then. Initially Priyanshu wanted to finish his game in a hurry, Gopichand cautioned Priyanshu to be patient with his game. He has taken to meditation to become patient and improve concentration.
With PTI inputs
Very good. Proud moment for the country.