Indian shuttler HS Prannoy played strong and battled his way to the semifinals, becoming the first Indian in 41 years to earn a badminton medal in men’s singles at the Asian Games, while two-time Olympic medalist PV Sindhu’s bid for gold in women’s singles was cut short on Thursday. Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty then advanced to the final four, becoming the second Indian men’s doubles combination to win a medal, following Leroy D’sa and Pradeep Gandhe in 1982. India earned a silver medal in the men’s team championships last Sunday.
Prannoy endured terrible back spasms and was seen playing with tape on his lower back and a belt under his shirt to deliver a performance for the ages, outshining Malaysia’s Lee Zii Jia 21-16 21-23 22-20 in the quarterfinals to secure India’s second badminton medal at the ongoing Asian Games. After battling his way through a lengthy 78-minute match, Prannoy collapsed on the court in shock. He then stripped off his shirt, fist-pumped, and dashed into the arms of the main coach Pullela Gopichand.
Prannoy will compete in the final against home favorite Li Shi Feng of China. Prannoy thus ended India’s lengthy wait for a men’s singles medal at the Asian Games, which began with Syed Modi’s bronze medal at the 1982 event in New Delhi. Due to a back ailment, the world championships bronze medalist was left out of the team championships final, as India lost 2-3 against China to settle for silver.
Sindhu, on the other hand, had to bear the agony of returning without a medal for the first time in nine years after losing 16-21 12-21 in 47 minutes to world No.5 Chinese He Bingjiao. Satwik and Chirag then won a men’s doubles medal for the first time in 41 years with an easy 21-7, 21-9 win against Singapore’s Nge Joo Jie and Johann Prajogo in the quarterfinals, setting up a Friday match with Malaysia’s Aaron Chia and Sooh Wooi Yik.
I think it was a really tough one out there. I think Lee is always a tough opponent. It was a very physical match today for me, Prannoy said reaching the summit clash. I’m not at all in a condition where I could say I’m 80 percent right. But I think to pull off something like this, I would give a lot of credit to myself. I think the will to fight was always there, Prannoy concluded.
