Prannoy finishes with bronze: India’s HS Prannoy finished third in the Badminton World Championship 2023 after losing a difficult three-game match to Thailand’s Kunlavut Vitidsarn, the 2022 finalist. In a one-hour, sixteen-minute match on Saturday, August 26, in Copenhagen, Prannoy, ranked No. 9 in the world, was upset by Vitidsarn 21-18, 13-21, and 14-21.
Prannoy outperformed his Thai opponent early on, gaining the lead 11-5. After scoring 7 consecutive points in the opening game, Prannoy’s play suffered, perhaps due to foot pain since he was seen changing his socks. Commentators questioned whether Prannoy had blisters after noticing tape covering the sides of each of his feet.
To increase India’s chances of winning the gold medal, the world no.9 Prannoy shocked the world by defeating the world champions and current No. 1 Viktor Axelsen of Denmark in the quarterfinal round. He won the first set of the semifinal match by a score of 21-18 after an exciting contest between the two players, but he was unable to maintain his form in the next two sets.
Prannoy had a 5-1 lead in the second set but Vitidsarn was able to apply early pressure by playing aggressively the rest of the way, sealing the victory with 21-18, 13-21, and 14-21 to advance to the finals. Despite being unhappy with his performance, Prannoy led India to the bronze medal and gave the crowd something to cheer for.
On the other hand, Prannoy became India’s only fifth player to claim a medal in the singles event at BWF World Championships history. Kidambi Srikanth (silver), Lakshya Sen (bronze), B Sai Praneeth (bronze) and Prakash Padukone (bronze) are the other four medalists with the former being the only player to reach the finals in 2021.
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