Gifu, Sep 24 (IANS) “The Asian Games is almost like a world championship for us,” said H S Prannoy after the men’s team pocketed the bronze medal, adding that India have “cracked the code” for the team events to get the maximum out of the players.
At Hangzhou 2023, the Indian men won silver after losing 3-2 to China in the gold medal match. In Aichi-Nagoya, they had assured themselves of a medal after beating hosts Japan 3-0 in the quarter-finals. But they fell to China 1-3 in the semifinal to take the bronze.
“For us, the Asian Games is really a tough event; it’s almost like a world championship for us, where I would say probably a couple of countries are not playing from the European side,” Prannoy told IANS.
“But I think the rest of all the powerhouses from Asia come in for the Asian Games. So for the team events, we as a team have been pretty much the same core since the last four to five years, starting from the 2022 Thomas Cup. We have kind of cracked the code for the team event, especially how to conduct ourselves in the team and how to get the maximum out of the players,” he added.
Indian shuttlers have won multiple medals in major continental and international team events, such as the Asian Games and the Badminton Asia Team Championships, with the Thomas Cup win in 2022 being the most precious team title.
“We have been able to do that consistently over the last three or four years, and the whole credit goes to the players also because all of them are kind of ready to put in that extra effort because team events are never easy, as you have to spend a lot of time with the team,” Prannoy, who is competing in his last Asian Games, said.
He continued, “We have always been playing individual tournaments, so it was only used to being looking after yourself. But when it comes to a team event, then there is an extra hours of work that need to be done and I’m glad that everybody is happily ready to invest that time to the team, and that is why we are able to generate that results.”
India have concluded their team campaign with a bronze after the Indian women’s badminton team bowed out in the quarter-finals following a 3-1 defeat to hosts Japan.
Indian shuttlers will now have shifted to individual competitions at the Asian Games 2026, set to begin on Friday, with the men’s and women’s singles and doubles events running from September 25 to 29.
Parannoy says the shuttlers are now focusing on their recovery to be ready for the individual challenges ahead.
“With the individual events coming up the next four or five days are going to be very key because competition is going to be really tight and straight from the first round. It’s important to keep things simple, eat good food, probably get good recovery in the next few days, and then get ready for the individual events again.
–IANS
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