For diehard fans of Indian sport, agony and ecstasy come in equal measure. Friday was all about coming to grips with one massive loss, as the Indian women’s hockey team failed to produce the spark against Japan and missed out on the Paris Olympics at the FIH qualifiers.
Frankly speaking, one did not necessarily have to be physically present inside the stadium in Ranchi to make sense of the sea of sadness which engulfed lakhs of fans. Watching the girls cry was sad, but that’s sport. Some may offer to wipe the tears, but the reality hits you hard as you head back into the empty locker rooms.
From Ranchi to New Delhi, where HS Prannoy cranked up his game like a high-octane-fuelled car waiting to move into high speed. Negotiating Taiwan’s Wang Tzu-wei from Chinese Taipei, all cunning at the net, called for more than the routine shots. After all, these players from Asia know that with ranking points at stake and the Paris Olympics qualification process on, each win at the India Open is a big deal.
As the tears from the hockey dried up, there were some of joy from the badminton at the Indira Gandhi sports complex in New Delhi as Prannoy showed all the ingredients which makes this shuttle sport so interesting to watch. There was teasing at the net, cunning in the angles conjured up, and the awesome sight of the human body in motion producing all kinds of strokes with the graphite racquet ripping the shuttlecock.
For the Latest Sports News: Click Here
Teaing Off With RevSportz || Defeat in Hockey. Hopes alive in Badminton || LIVE https://t.co/JqqgMKpjQE
— Boria Majumdar (@BoriaMajumdar) January 20, 2024
Indeed, Prannoy and Wang were competing so hard you were left mesmerised. In the end, the Indian, a bronze medallist at the World Championships in 2023, showed he was very well prepared to fight against the Taiwanese menace at the net. Winning a badminton match is as much about strategy as it is about soaking in the atmosphere. If the New Delhi badminton arena was rich for what it offered in terms of ambience, then Prannoy soaked it in. He was fighting, or rather, made to fight in net duels.
Prannoy eventually won 21-17, 17-21, 21-19 in 77 minutes to reach his maiden Yonex Sunrise India Open semi-final, with each minute capturing the very essence of speed, reflexes and that steely will to triumph. It’s not easy to be playing competitive sport in this the fierce Delhi winter. Agreed, there is temperature control inside the arena, but from the hotel to gym, transport to the stadium and then warm-up, the body undergoes various temperature fluctuations.
As a badminton professional, you compete in indoor tournaments. But then, Prannoy is from warm Kerala and New Delhi, in comparison, is an ice box of sorts in January. No cribbing, the way Prannoy mastered the conditions and his opponent left few in doubt that the 31-year-old is still in prime condition. Prannoy is not young by badminton standards. Then again, when you see someone like Lakshya Sen, nine years his junior, struggling, Prannoy is Indian badminton’s Alpha Male, waiting to do well at the Paris Olympics. Earlier this week, Prannoy was guarded in a conversation with this writer at a press conference, where he said he was going to take everything on a weekly basis.
Entering the last four is a big deal in the blue-riband event on the BWF calendar that India hosts. As for how Prannoy planned and executed the kill, he had to battle at the net, adjust to the flight and speed, and use his sculpted body to produce a range of movements, forward and back. He had to bend and rise, and keep an eye on the “bird in flight”. People talk of 360 degrees in batting. Badminton tests you as well through various degrees of mobility .
Winning the first game was a big deal, as it gave Pranoy the much-needed momentum. But then, the second game did not go his way. The icing on the cake, so to say, was in the third game, where Prannoy was the warrior in motion, closing in from 5-10 down to level at 14. He then hit the overdrive button to win 21-19. Up next is Shi Yuqi, the whippet-like Chinese sixth seed.
“I am proud of what I could do in the third game, it was long-drawn and I could not finish things so quickly,” said Prannoy after the match in the mixed zone. “It’s a wide-open category there.”
Finishing the match past 9pm and then getting to bed almost around midnight after stretching, recovery and dinner, Prannoy knows he will need support from his entire team to be ready for the next battle on Saturday. Win or lose, Indian fans will wait.
Prannoy has already won hearts in the capital with the right game and approach. This speaks volumes about his overall preparations for Paris. The crowd support did lift him on Friday, but eventually you have to go out there and win!
Also Read: An anatomy of heartbreak & how Indian women paid the penalty