India's highest-ranked singles shuttler, HS Prannoy, on training the mind, what's caused his remarkable turnaround and how he's come to peace with his injury-prone careerÂ
HS Prannoy. Image: Shi Tang/Getty Images
A few years ago, no one, perhaps HS Prannoy included, would have bet on him as India's highest-ranked singles shuttler going into the Olympics. But with a bronze in the World Championships and at the Asian Games in 2023, the latter, despite carrying an injury, the 31-year-old is leading the charge for the Indian singles contingent at the Paris Games. In this interview, Prannoy talks about being a late-bloomer, rising through his injury-prone career and how he's worked on his mind and expectations to script his purple patch. Edited excerpts:
My father used to play badminton recreationally and was very passionate about the sport. That's how I was introduced to it. Then, I became attracted to the sport and started playing with him whenever he went to play with his friends. When I was 10, I went to summer camp for the first time, and I was very quick to learn the basics. Within the first six months, I could play in tournaments, which gave me the confidence to carry on with the game.
I didn't have role models when I was growing up in Thiruvananthapuram as we didn't have much exposure. But when I was young, my dad used to get a lot of CDs where I could watch top players. Those were my initial role models—like Indonesian Taufiq Hidayat, whom I used to copy. That apart, it was all my dad because, to me, he was the only one who knew something about badminton at that point. That apart, I had no clue what was happening in the country, and till about 15-16, I didn't know who icons like Prakash Padukone and Pullela Gopichand were.
My father has worked in the Air Force for 20 years and has led a very disciplined life. I could learn a lot of things from him because it can be very tough to teach discipline, and it's easier if one picks up by watching people around them. And the only thing that my father would tell me was not to cheat. He would tell me that cheating would only give me temporary happiness but wouldn't do me any good in the long run. Some months or years down the line, you will always get called out if you cheat. From my younger days, I've always been able to do that.
The last couple of years have been good for me. I've won bronze medals at the World Championships and the Asian Games and won the Malaysia Masters, too, in 2023, my first BWF World Tour title. What have I been doing differently of late? Not keeping a lot of expectations, with which I often struggle. When you work hard, there are definitely a lot of expectations. But I've learnt to do the tough part in the last two years—sobering those expectations. I tell myself the important thing to focus on is how well you can recover and how well you can train the next day; nothing else matters. Sometimes, I waver and begin to expect good results—that's when things don't fall into place for me.