India’s chief badminton coach Gopichand hails Prannoy for playing through two weeks of severe lower back pain to win historic singles medal after 41 yrs
India’s HS Prannoy during his semi-final against China’s Li Shifeng in China yesterday. Pic/PTI
You never know what an athlete is doing behind the scenes. India’s star shuttler HS Prannoy has been through hell, with a lower back injury he suffered just before these Games. Yet, on Friday, he finished with a historic bronze medal, after losing 16-21, 9-21 to China’s World No. 1 Li Shifeng amidst vociferous chants of “Li Shifeng jaiyou [cheers]” by the Chinese fans who packed the Binjiang Gymnasium.
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“This has been one of the toughest two weeks for me in the last two-three years. I’ve never had such pain, that too while playing a tournament,” Prannoy said after winning India’s first men’s singles badminton medal at the Asiad since the late Syed Modi achieved a bronze in 1982.
Also Read: Asian Games 2023: ‘I think I have done a fair job’
Gopichand gets emotional
Chief coach Pullela Gopichand is known to be a taskmaster, but after watching Prannoy struggle in the second game against Shifeng, even he got emotional. “I’m a little emotional right now because, for him [Prannoy], it has been pain, pain and pain, and he still fought, fought and fought. That’s why this bronze, in my mind, is worth its weight in gold. It’s superb and needs to be celebrated,” said the 2001 All England champion.
Gopichand’s emotions might also stem from a bit of guilt, considering it was his call to play Prannoy in the tough men’s team semi-final against Korea a few days ago.
P Gopichand. Pic/Ashwin Ferro
“We wanted him to play that semi-final of the team event against Korea because we needed those three singles and of course Chirag [Shetty] and Satwik’s [Rankireddy] doubles was the buffer. But having lost that doubles match, this decision [to play Prannoy] was very critical. It was fantastic that Prannoy could pull off that tough match [v Hyeokjin Jeon]. After that, his back may have been a little worse, but his legs were completely gone. Then, we had to get him ready for the individual event [singles],” explained Gopichand.
Prannoy was most grateful to the backroom staff for keeping him on his feet here. “Thanks to the physios, who were on the job for the last two weeks, to make sure that I was able to play. I was at just 50 per cent because I haven’t trained in the last 10 days. The intention was to just play [and not train] because the back can take the load for only one game. So we’ve been trying to take it day by day and see how it’s going.”
Thrice as nice for India
And it has gone brilliantly, considering India’s shuttlers have secured three medals. “That we have won this men’s singles medal after more than 40 years shows how tough Asian Games badminton is. It’s like a World Championship, nine of the world’s Top 10 players are from Asia. That’s why I rate this medal very highly, probably right up there with the World Championship bronze I won last month. This was just more sweet,” Prannoy signed off.
Sat-Chi enter final
Hangzhou: Star men’s doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty dished out a badminton masterclass to storm into the final and inch closer to India’s first-ever badminton gold at the Asian Games here on Friday.
The World No. 3 pair, which was part of the silver-medal winning Indian men’s team last week, produced a sensational show to outclass Malaysia’s Aaron Chia and Soh Wooi Yik, Tokyo bronze medallists and former world champions, 21-17, 21-12.
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