Asian Games: "Toughest two weeks" of my career, bronze in men's singles ranks higher, says badminton star Prannoy

Hangzhou, Oct 6 (IANS) Indian shuttler H.S Prannoy on Friday described playing in the Asian Games with a back injury as the "toughest two weeks" of his career, adding that the bronze he won in men's singles ranks big as it came after a gap of 40 years.

Prannoy, a bronze medallist at the World Championship in 2023 and who helped India win the Thomas Cup for the first time in the event's history, soldiered on bravely despite a debilitating back injury, that he had suffered earlier, helped the team win the silver medal in the Team competition and then came back to win the bronze medal. Prannoy secured the bronze with a tough three-game win over Malaysia's Li Zii Jia.

On Friday, a drained and half-fit Prannoy lost to China's Li Shifeng in straight games. Prannoy thus became the first Indian after Syed Modi in 1982 to win a men's singles medal in the Asian Games.

"To my mind, it's big. After 40 years, someone from India is getting an Asian Games medal in men's singles. This shows how tough the Asian Games are in badminton. It's a kind of World Championship for us.

"It's not easy to go out and play a semifinal, with several players in the top 10...I'd say, currently in the top 10, there are nine from Asia. The competition is so high, so to win a medal is up there with the World Championships bronze that I won last month. This was just much sweeter to have this in the kitty," he told the media after his match.

Prannoy, 31, said it was difficult for players like him to counter the youngsters and they rely on their experience to modify their game to try and remain as fit as possible.

"That's where experience comes into play. All the youngsters out there are pretty fast and pretty powerful. The only thing you can do is to get your experience from the past and see what all works for you best, and at what points. And keep trying on those particular points. So that's what I've been doing for six months, wherever there is a dip in fitness, you have to pull off matches when you are 60%, 70% also," Prannoy said.

The shuttler from Kerala, who has been ranked in the top 10 in the world since the start of this year, said the current calendar of events does not leave the players enough time to work on their game.

"Our schedule is insanely tight, with almost 20 tournaments in the calendar, and with the Olympic Games also in between. Mad amount of travel and playing tournaments. There's hardly any time to train, or recover. There is no time to look after the niggles. It's a tough schedule. Sometimes it's all about management," he said.

He said players have to be conservative in their approach in such times like he was during the Asian Games. "Yes, and today was much tougher than yesterday, with the back not really being great. But managed the whole week. Special thanks to the team of physios, they've been on the job for 2 weeks to ensure that I was able to play," he added.

Next on the menu for Prannoy is to take care of his body and he is likely to take a break from the tournaments.

"The first thing is to take care of the body. The European tournaments look pretty bleak as of now. We'd let the medical team decide what needs to be taken care of," he added.

About his back problem, Prannoy said he couldn't say what kind of injury it was.

"I wish I could explain. I can just tell that it's kind of an injury which has happened to me in the past. I was out for a few months due to this. Somehow we managed to play this event, how much ever we could... Hopefully, in the next few weeks, we will be in a much better position," he added.

He said the Asian Games showed how much Indian badminton has progressed in the last few years.

It was also rewarding for him personally as he will be leaving Hangzhou with two medals -- a silver from Team competition and a bronze from Men's singles.

"It's great. It's always tough to get the medals here. The last time we had Saina and Sindhu, and this time we have the boys coming in, in team events and men's singles and men's doubles.

"It's a proud moment for all of us to have three medals from the Asian Games, which shows how much quality we have in the players, not individuals but as a team. How well we've been performing in the last two or three years. All of a sudden, there is hope from us in the team events, which feels good, it feels good to take the burden in team events. I think the boys are really looking forward to bigger team events in the future," he added.

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