“Scheduling is sometimes cruel to the players” - HS Prannoy rues lack of rest at the Badminton Asia Championships

HS Prannoy, star men's singles shuttler, went into the Badminton Asia Championships as one of India's brightest medal hopefuls. His form was further certified when he took down home favorite Lu Guang Zu in his first round, marking his first win over the Chinese.

The match against Zu was an absolute marathon, with long rallies for each point seeing the clock tick to over 90 minutes. However, Prannoy was forced to be back on court in half a day, and the inadequate rest proved to be lethal.

The Indian seventh seed looked visibly exhausted when playing Chinese Taipei’s Chun Yi Lin in his round of 16, and went down 18-21, 11-21.

Speaking on the physical effects of playing such grueling back-to-back matches, HS Prannoy told The Bridge,

"I think the scheduling is sometimes cruel to the players because I remember in BAC by the time I slept at 3 am. It is tough to sleep more than five or six hours and then you try to gain your energy back and recover from the grind.”

“Recovery is an important aspect of any athlete's fitness and once you have inadequate sleep, the recovery won't have the same rhythm.”

Despite the physical toll, Prannoy is more focused on what he can control rather than complaining about the aspects of tournaments that are out of his control,

“I think it's part and parcel of it. You can't complain about it, just have to work a little bit more than the others to make sure that you are recovering well than others."

For the men's singles shuttler, these kinds of marathon matches can be expected to be the norm in Paris, and he's keen on preparing his body for the exertion.

“When you play in big tournaments like World Championships or Olympics, it is a high possibility that you should be ready to grind those 90 minutes matches day in and day out. So it's very important to kind of build that kind of body that will be the key.”

HS Prannoy books Olympic berth

While the early loss at the Badminton Asia Championships has to sting a little, HS Prannoy has bigger things coming up on his horizon.

With the badminton Olympic qualification period coming to an end on April 28th and no BWF tournament scheduled before then, the World No. 9 is the highest-ranked Indian on the Road to Paris charts, ensuring an appearance at the Games.

This will mark Prannoy’s Olympic debut, and he goes into the event as a World Championship and Asian Games bronze medalist.

However, before the Paris Olympics, HS Prannoy will have his sights set on the Thomas Cup, where India go in as the defending champions.