HS Prannoy won his first Super 500 title on Sunday at the Malaysia Masters in Kuala Lumpur. He told BWF media about the rollercoaster of emotions, and what to look forward to in the race to Olympic qualification.
Describe your emotions, winning after six years…
I think there are too many emotions as such. The last six years were too much of a roller-coaster ride for me. Really didn’t expect this to happen after six years, to be honest. If you’d asked me in 2017, I don’t think I would have told you that in 2023 I’d be winning a Super 500. Mixed emotions, but yeah really happy. Thanks to all the coaches and support staff back home. Thanks to Gopi sir, he has kept telling me that I should believe that it will happen one day. It happened. Thanks to Guru (Gurusaidutt), he has been right behind me the entire week. The last four months we have worked really, really hard. I think the result has finally come.
Did you sleep last night?
No, I have not been sleeping for the last three days. That was causing a little bit of worry to my team that I’ve not been sleeping (smiles). That’s how it is, there is too much excitement, many emotions. You are excited to play out there, in front of such a big crowd, such a beautiful arena.
Plenty of upsets in this tournament. Is there a sense of pride in you today?
Yes definitely, the draw was really tough for me. Last night was an unfortunate incident for Christian (Adinata’s injury) but I think apart from that, I had really tough matches and had to dig really deep. Four matches, all of them went to the wire. That shows how patient I was and fitness too, was decent, I’d say. To beat these players in these conditions is not easy, the court was really slow the entire tournament. All matches were going long, just had to hang in there. I think I did that well.
India’s H. S. Prannoy, right, hugs his coach after defeating China’s Weng Hong Yang in his men’s singles finals match at the Malaysia Masters badminton tournament at Bukit Jalil Axiata Arena in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Sunday, May 28, 2023. (AP Photo/Kien Huo)
Olympic qualification off to a good start. How ready are you to take on Lakshya (Sen), Kidambi (Srikanth) in this race to Paris?
(Smiles) I think the first thing is to keep aside the competition among ourselves. To be honest, the competition is with myself. Really important for me to be consistent in whatever I do, the results will follow. I need to be smart enough to pick tournaments to play, and train in between as much as possible. These are the key points. The number of tournaments are really high. Just have to be smart.
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How much confidence does this give?
Gives a lot of confidence. Gives a lot of insights too, winning these kinds of matches digging deep, to be honest. There are some hidden gems you sometimes discover about your own game after a long time. That you can do this. That is what happened here in Malaysia, I could discover a lot of things that will give me a lot of confidence.