Asian Games: Injured HS Prannoy Ends 41 Year Wait for Men's Singles Medal

Playing with an injury, HS Prannoy fought hard but lost his semi-final 16-21, 9-21 to China's Li Shifeng

HS Prannoy had been struggling with a back injury since before the Asian Games.

(Photo: PTI)

Still suffering from the recurring back injury that he picked in training before the event, India's H.S. Prannoy went down to China's Li Shifeng in the men's singles semifinals at the Asian Games, to win a bronze medal on Friday.

Operating at 50 percent of his capacity, Prannoy lost 16-21, 9-21 in straight games to bag India its second medal in men's singles -- after a gap of 41 years. Syed Modi had won a bronze medal in men's singles in the 1982 games in New Delhi. 

Prannoy had a decent lead in the first game but could not capitalise on that as the Chinese 23-year-old played a superb game and did not commit many mistakes. This was Li Shifeng's first win against Prannoy in four matches.

Prannoy had the advantage at 8-3 in the first game but Li Shifeng maintained the pressure and clawed his day back into the game and caught up with Prannoy at 14-14.

The 31-year-old Indian made some tactical changes in the game, but could not implement the strategy and went down 16-21.

By that time, Prannoy, who could not practice for many days before he traveled to Hangzhou because of severe back pain and had come through a tough match in the semifinals, was working on fumes in his tank and could not put up much of a fight.

Hangzhou: India’s HS Prannoy in action against Malaysia’s Lee Zii Jia during the Men's Singles Quarterfinal badminton match at the 19th Asian Games, in Hangzhou, China, Thursday, Oct. 5, 2023.

(Photo: PTI)

To his credit, Li Shigfeng played at an unbelievable level, hitting pinpoint strokes to the baseline, did not make any mistakes, and dictated the pace of the game, thus not giving Prannoy many chances to attack.

"I had my chances in the first game but there was a lapse in concentration where I kind of gave away the entire match. I could not come back from that situation," said Prannoy on Friday.

Explaining his lapse of concentration, he said it in terms of strategy as he wanted to play some points in a certain way but could not and that "kind of upset me for the next few points".

Saying that he was currently functioning at 50% of his usual capacity, Prannoy said he did not have the back nor legs to take on Li Shifeng.

"This is an injury that I had suffered earlier also which kept me away from the game for a few months. I had it again a week to 10 days before I left for Hangzhou. So, I could not train at all. Then I played a crucial match against Korea in the semifinal," said Prannoy, who came through a 78-minute slugfest with Lee Zii Jin that had drained him totally.

Prannoy gave credit to the Indian badminton team's support staff for getting him ready for Friday's match and also for the individual competitions after the injury aggravated a bit during the semifinal win over Korea in the team competition.