World No 12 HS Prannoy is not worried about familiar foes such as three-time Olympic silver medallist Lee Chong Wei at the Commonwealth Games next month, instead saying it is the surprise element of the unheralded shutters who could pose a bigger threat to his medal aspirations.
The 25-year-old will be making his Commonwealth Games debut in Gold Coast and said he is in good shape after a foot injury had plagued the beginning of his 2018 season.
“There are many players such as Rajiv Ouseph and Lee Chong Wei who have played in the past at CWG, but it is the others who we should be wary of,” Prannoy told PTI in an interview. “There are others who are actually good and can trouble you on certain days because you don’t know how they play.”
Prannoy had beaten Lee Chong Wei and Olympic champion Chen Long in successive days last year at the Indonesia Open, becoming the first Indian to beat badminton’s big three – Lee, Chen and Lin Dan (in 2014).
Prannoy had won the US Open Grand Prix Gold before beating Lee again at the Denmark Open last year. The 25-year-old from Kerala also clinched his first national title, beating compatriot Kidambi Srikanth in the final.
Prannoy was in good form in the Premier Badminton League but then developed foot warts, which saw him completely skip events at Malaysia and Indonesia and only turn up for appearance’s sake at the India Open, where he lost in the first round itself..
However, after recovering from his injury, Prannoy impressed again at the All England Open earlier this month, reaching the quarter-finals for the first time. The shuttler from Thiruvananthapuram said he feels in even better shape going into his first CWG campaign. “I didn’t give much thought before the All England because I had started training after recovering from foot corns just a couple of weeks before the tournament,” he said.
“But CWG should be good. I’m very happy to be in the CWG team. I have good time to prepare. In the next few days, I will put in more effort in training and be in better shape. I am looking for good six days of badminton.”
Prannoy has still not won a major tournament despite reaching the world’s top 10 briefly last year. However, he feels it’s only a matter of time. “It’s not easy to recover from injuries, train and reach top 20,” he said. “I am happy the way I come back after each injury and I might not have won a Superseries tournament but I always believe something big will happen.”
With inputs from PTI
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