HS Prannoy looks to break into top three, Olympics still a fair distance away
HS Prannoy is India's most consistent shuttler in the last couple of years and is a bright candidate to win a medal at the 2024 Olympics. But for now, the biggest concern for the 31-year-old is breaking into the top three of the rankings, while the Olympics is a fair distance away.
"Right now, probably I am in a good position. I had a few decent tournaments post-May but I would say I am never satisfied and I always want to go out there and win big tournaments, that's been always my ambition," Prannoy told PTI.
"Last couple of years, I have been consistently able to play quarterfinals and semifinals and now I am trying to make sure that I go that extra one more round and be in the final and win those tournaments."
This year, he achieved his career-best ranking of WR-7, and could soon surpass that as well. "In the coming months that will be the challenge: to get into the top five, or be in the top three in the world, which I have never been able to do till now. I think that is the target as of now. I am not looking way ahead, at the Olympics," Prannoy said.
"Now the targets are much shorter, how we can perform next week or say World Championship or China Open, that's the only target, and the rest of things will take care of itself." The next tournament for him will be the World Championship, followed by the China Open, and the Asian Games in September.
"I am not really looking into the world championships as of now, I know it is just two weeks away. To be honest, we had three back-to-back tournaments -- Korea, Japan and Australia," he said. "I had a good three weeks of tournaments. Korea was also good but conditions were tricky, I couldn't go past quarters.
"Japan and Australia were very good, I played some good matches against top players and to reach a final of a third tournament is always tough physically and mentally."
"Looking forward to the World Championships, we hardly have 10 days. With a hectic schedule, it is tough to get back to 100 per cent in such a short span, but yes, I will try to get my body ready for the World Championships.
"But I am not really forcing myself in any way saying that I should perform really well in the World Championships, because we have to understand that we have to take care of the body first, because we have a really long season ahead."