Malaysia Open: HS Prannoy’s match suspended due to roof leakage

In a bizarre turn of events, the first-round match of the season-opening Malaysia Open Super 1000 between India's HS Prannoy and Canada's Brian Yang had to be halted twice due to "technical problems."

The match on Court 3 was suspended after water began leaking from the roof of the Axiata Arena in Kuala Lumpur, the venue for the tournament.

The incident occurred when Prannoy, playing for the first time since his round of 16 exit from the Paris Olympics in August last year, and Yang were engaged in an intense rally in the second game. The point of the rally was discarded as one of the service judges noticed water dripping onto the court.

Matches on Court 3 has been suspended, with towels being used to dry the surface.

Prannoy had won the opening game 21-12 and was leading 6-3 in the second game when play was interrupted. Although the match resumed later, it had to be postponed again due to the roof leakage. The fate of the match will be decided tomorrow, as only one player can advance to the Round of 16.

Due to the incident, the timing of the remaining matches scheduled at Court 3 for today also got affected.

Earlier, playing on the same court, the Indian women’s doubles duo of Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand cruised past Thailand’s Ornnicha Jongsathapornparn and Sukitta Suwachai 21-10, 21-10 in just 30 minutes.

Women’s singles player Aakarshi Kashyap was also scheduled to play on Cout 3 later on Tuesday against Denmark’s Julie Dawall Jakobsen.

Among other Indian shuttlers in the fray today are Lakshya Sen, Anupama Upadhyay and Priyanshu Rajawat.