Priyanshu Rajawat emerged triumphant at the Orleans Masters with a hard fought victory against Magnus Johannesen of Denmark 21-15, 19-21, 21-16.
This is the first Super-300 title for the 21-year-old. Earlier, he won a Super-100 and was also part of the Indian squad that won the Thomas Cup.
Establishing academies all over India helped chief coach Pullela Gopichand unearth a talent like Priyanshu. A decade back he brought Priyanshu from Gwalior to Hyderabad and started focusing on the 11-year-old.
Even after Indonesia coach Agus Santoso was employed to train the singles shuttlers, Gopichand kept Priyanshu with him and honed his skills, like how he did with Saina Nehwal, PV Sindhu and Kidambi Srikanth.

The chief coach had a lot of expectations on this youngster from Madhya Pradesh and was delighted after his trainee won the first major title abroad. The attacking instincts displayed by the youngster reminded one of a Srikanth, Sindhu and Prannoy. Though it is too early to talk a lot about him, those who watched him play notice a kind of explosiveness in him.
Gopichand said that Priyanshu is showing signs of quality. “It’s a good win for him. He is young and he played well not only in this tournament but also in the last few tournaments. He is starting to show signs of quality which is very good for Indian badminton. He has the potential to be really up there,” Gopichand said, adding that Priyanshu should launch himself from here. “He has power, speed, strokes and also the intelligence to pull back. He has all the qualities and takes this victory as one big step to push forward,” he added.
In the final at France, Priyanshu started off in a dominant fashion. Peppering the rival’s court with a series of smashes, Priyanshu took the first game without breaking much sweat.

However, with Magnus tightening up the defence and the drift on the other side of the court not helping him, Priyanshu started making mistakes. He hurried himself into going for the winners and lost points. He committed 19 unforced errors and lost the game.
Coach Anil, who was guiding Priyanshu from the court side, told Priyanshu to play the waiting game. “I told him not to go for the winner until he plays at least six to seven strokes. Magnus was trying to tempt him and I warned Priyanshu about it,” Anil told ToI from Orleans.
Priyanshu changed his approach completely and played the waiting game and engaged his rival in long rallies. At 8-7 in the decider, the players were involved in a 54-shot rally, the longest of the match.
Tapping the shuttle with precision and controlling the net, Priyanshu used smash, his biggest weapon, only occasionally. He took the serve early and gave himself a lot of time to get the better of his opponent. He soon surged to a 17-11 lead and never looked back. The moment he won the last point he threw his arms in the air and celebrated. “I am extremely delighted to win such a big title in my career. I thank all those who supported me,” Priyanshu said.