Unseeded Pratul Joshi stuns former Olympic champion Taufik Hidayat

Pratul Joshi in action during the National junior championships in 2008. Courtesy: Bihar Sports

Promising Indian youngster Pratul Joshi managed quite a herculean task as he defeated Taufik Hidayat of Indonesia 21-17, 21-12 in the Men’s Singles first round of Syed Modi International India GPG 2012 in Lucknow.

The unseeded Pratul played the best game of his career as he showed a lot of courage in upsetting World Number 11 Taufik Hidayat in straight sets.

Pratul never let his spirit die out in front of the stalwart as he crushed Taufik by a comfortable margin.

The Indian shuttler dominated the game right from the beginning as he exhibited remarkable footwork and played with an incredible speed in all areas of the court while Taufik lacked the speed and the finishing touch in his shots.

Pratul made his opponent run through all the corners of the court in the first game and he stayed focussed on targeting the right areas as he maintained a staggering margin before the break.

After the break, Pratul played cleverly, as he worked towards maintaining the lead that he built in the first half as he captured the game 21-17.

Pratul was on top of the game in the second game as his Indonesian rival struggled to get points. He surprisingly attacked, leaving Taufik clueless for most part of the game, as he captured the game quite easily 21-12.

The local boy staged a professional display to give the former Olympic champion the biggest upset of his career.