HS Prannoy sees All England as the grooming event ahead of CWG

H.S . Prannoy, who is still recuperating with the foot corn he developed during the India Open 2018, may not be fully fit for the prestigious All England Open badminton championship 2018 which starts from March 14, but definitely yes for Commonwealth Games from April 4 in Gold Coast, Australia.

Yet, Prannoy feels that participating at the All England will help him to get back on competitive stride for CWG.

During his rest for couple of weeks, Prannoy slipped to 13th position in the latest BWF World Rankings and now he is training at the national camp in Hyderabad for the upcoming major tournament.

“At the moment I am training well. But training and match practice are different things. I need to play competitive matches and tournaments before the CWG,” said Prannoy as quoted by IANS.

“The All England is dicey for me. Coming from any sort of injury is not easy but hopefully the situation will be better in two weeks,” he added.

Prannoy victory rate has been going very well since 2016; he won gold at the South Asian Games team championship with individual silver from the same tournament, followed by winning bronze in the Asia Team Championships. In 2017 he won the US Open and moved to his career best of world no. 10, followed by defeating his compatriot in the finals at the Nationals in November.

During his break for last couple of weeks, Prannoy told that he has learnt the art of being optimistic.

Meanwhile, Prannoy feels that he has learnt a lot from world no. 3 Guntur lad, Kidambi Srikanth, with whom he will be leading the upcoming All England and the CWG.

According to Prannoy, the Indian badminton contingent has proven the best with the prodigies and should be equally strong when playing in the mixed team events.

As the young guns and men’s doubles duo Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy will play their debut matches at the CWG with Pranaav Jerry Chopra and N Sikki Reddy to pair up for the mixed doubles event, Prannoy said, “They all have been doing well in recent tournaments.”

Olympic queens P.V. Sindhu and Saina Nehwal will be seen with swapping of roles in the women’s singles clashes, while in the women’s doubles event Ashwini Ponnappa and N Sikki Reddy will continue their sapping chemistry.

“The women shuttlers have been the torchbearers for the Indian badminton as they set the high standards at the International games, be it World Championships or the Olympics,” he added.