New Delhi : Even though he may not be fully fit by the time the All England Badminton Championships starting on March 14, Indian shuttler H.S. Prannoy feels that he needs to play the tournament in order to get into the groove ahead of this April’s Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast, Australia.
The 25-year-old returned to the national camp in Hyderabad in the first week of February to resume training after being sidelined due to a wart on his foot.
At the moment, for Prannoy, the Birmingham event may arrive too soon. But he doesn’t want to let it go as he sees it as an opportunity to get into competitive mode.
“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,” Prannoy said.
“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’ time,” he added.
“The tournament and you see the crowd, they lift you,” Prannoy said.
He also revealed that he learned and tried the art of throwing negativity out of his mind during the injury-enforced break.
Prannoy has a 2016 South Asian Games team gold in his cabinet, as well as an individual silver from the same competition and bronze in the Asia
Team Championships the same year. He also won the US Open last year as he moved into the top-10 in global singles rankings.
He defeated compatriot Kidambi Srikanth in the final of the National Championships in November. Still he feels he has a lot of things to learn from the world No.2 from Guntur.
Srikanth is the highest-ranked Indian in the category. The two shuttlers will carry big expectations from India.