At 32, recovering from post-viral injuries isn’t easy, especially for an athlete still competing at the highest level. Yet, HS Prannoy remains more than just a former top-10singles player. He has grown into a senior voice, a statesman of Indian badminton, offering perspective shaped by years of experience and resilience.
In this exclusive conversation with RevSportz, Prannoyopens up about battling form slumps and injuries, while also outlining the key changes he believes are essential for India to reclaim its edge on the global stage.
The last few years haven’t been easy—injuries, dips in form, and performance struggles. Have you been able to fully recover from those setbacks? How are you feeling now, both physically and mentally, especially after coming through such a challenging phase?
HS Prannoy: Physically and mentally, I’ve been doing fairly well. I struggled quite a bit after the Olympics, there were a lot of visits to clinics, but I started competing again in January this year. It’s been about four to five months now. I’ve had some good matches, but unfortunately couldn’t convert them into wins. That’s how sport goes sometimes. I’ve been trying to stay positive and remind myself to hang in there and wait for the right opportunity. I’ve always believed that when the time is right, things will turn around.
Over the past 15 years, I’ve had my share of tough seasons. Not every year has gone according to plan. Things come at you hard, but you’ve got to stay grounded, keep working, and believe that change will come. When the tide turns, you need to be ready to ride it.
As for the lingering pain from chikungunya, it’s still there in a couple of areas. The more severe pain took around four to five months to settle down, but the body went through a lot during that phase. I even played the Olympics with that issue, which made things worse. But you do everything you can to make sure you compete at the Olympics. Sometimes, you just have to give your body the time it needs to heal. I’m still hoping that about 30 percent of recovery is left, and slowly, I’ll start to feel better.
How do you keep yourself motivated to continue fighting and pushing through despite the challenges?
HS Prannoy: I think I just take it day by day. It’s really tough to plan when you’re dealing with injuries and health-related issues like these. Over time, I’ve learned not to set too many expectations, like thinking you have to do this or that, but instead focus on finding things that keep me happy. That’s what I try to hold on to, especially when things aren’t going my way.
Right now, I’m just trying to look at the brighter side. I’m still able to play and compete at the highest level, and that in itself is a big thing. I’m not chasing results at the moment. The fact that I can still go up against the world’s best is something I value. It’s about staying grounded, keeping expectations realistic, and continuing to build from where I am.
The Sudirman Cup didn’t go as expected. What exactly went wrong with the campaign from your point of view? How do you plan to bounce back after a string of disappointing performances?
Prannoy: The Sudirman Cup is always a tough tournament because you’re up against the world’s best players. For me, both matches—against Anders Antonsen and Jonatan Christie—were challenging. From a game perspective, I felt I was there most of the time, but there were lapses in concentration at key moments where the momentum shifted.
Maybe I still feel I’m not fully match-fit and probably need to put in a bit more work, especially since the top ten are competing at a slightly different level. The top-10 players are competing at a different level, and to reach that, you have to be at 100 percent. Over time, I hope to build myself back to that level with more hard work.
Indian badminton’s bench strength is under scrutiny. What do you think is the biggest reason for that weakness? And in your opinion, what can be done to turn that around and build a stronger second line?
Prannoy: I feel all the top players from the country should train together. That’s my personal belief. Back in our golden days, all the best players trained at the same place, and that created a structure and competitive environment where everyone pushed each other to improve. Unfortunately, over the last four to five years, that system has faded. Many players have shifted to different training centres and are now training separately.
This scattered approach affects our bench strength. Juniors grow when they train with seniors—it’s how I grew. I had seniors around when I was a junior, and the transition happened naturally through those interactions. Today, juniors mostly play against other juniors, and they miss the experience and intensity that comes from facing senior players regularly.
In countries like China, all top players train together in one system. That gives them a competitive advantage, as the quality of sparring is much higher when you’re training daily with the best in the world. If we can return to a more collective training setup, it could help build strong bench strength again. It would also motivate the next line of players, knowing they’re training alongside the country’s best.
You’ve spoken about the need for top players to train together to rebuild bench strength. How do you see corporates like Reliance Foundation, which supports you as well, contributing to this vision and helping create a more unified, high-performance training ecosystem?
Prannoy: Yes, I believe corporates are stepping in, but the support needs to be channelled into a unified, structured program. As I mentioned earlier, all top players need to train together. Everything, from infrastructure to coaching, must be aligned so that both current top players and the next generation receive the same level of support. That’s how smooth transitions happen, with all necessary backing provided at a centralised location or training hub.
Corporate involvement will be crucial going forward, especially given how many young players are now entering the system. At All India tournaments, we’re seeing 5,000 to 6,000 entries in a single event, which is massive. But funding the second, third, and even fourth tier of players is vital. Right now, we don’t have a proper pipeline that connects school to university to a professional career. It’s mostly dependent on who can afford to stay in the sport longer.
Those without a strong financial background struggle to continue, even if they show promise. This is why targeted support for second and third-tier players, especially those doing well in the junior circuit, is essential. It needs to be a collective effort. If this support is fragmented, coordination becomes extremely difficult—especially in a country as vast as India, where players are scattered across regions. Communication and consistency become real challenges.
So yes, in my view, it’s important that at least the top pool of players train together regularly. That’s the only way we can ensure sustained growth.
You’re currently ranked outside the top 30. What’s next for you — both in the short term and long term?
Prannoy: There’s no long-term goal right now; it’s all very short-term. This is probably the first time in five or six years that I’ve been outside the top 32. But that’s how sport works — if you’re not performing well, you get constant reminders. These are signals that you need to start producing results.
The effort is always there, and I hope to turn things around in the upcoming tournaments. If I can win a few rounds and maybe reach the quarterfinal stage, that could help build momentum. Confidence will grow from there, and hopefully I can progress step by step.
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