COPENHAGEN (Denmark): Indian shuttler Prannoy HS had to settle for a bronze medal as he registered a loss to Kunlavut Vitidsarn in the semifinals of the ongoing Badminton World Federation (BWF) World Championships on Saturday.
Prannoy went down to world number three and three-time Junior champion Vitidsarn by 21-18, 13-21, 14-21.
Prannoy and Vitidsarn were neck-to-neck in the first game, but the Indian won the first game easily.
Vitidsarn staged a comeback in the second game. Prannoy fought hard but lost the game by 13-21, setting up an exciting decider.
In the decider, Prannoy was trailing right from the start. Nonetheless, he continued to fight, but it was not enough to overcome Vitidsarn, who won the third game by 14-21 and secured the match.
“Prannoy wraps up #BWFWorldChampionships with a well deserved bronze medal Proud of you HSP: @badmintonphoto @himantabiswa| @sanjay091968| @lakhaniarun1 #BWC2023 #Copenhagen2023 #IndiaontheRise #BadmintonTwitter #Badminton,” tweeted Badminton Association of India (BAI), acknowledging Prannoy’s solid run in the tournament.
Prannoy wraps up #BWFWorldChampionships with a well deserved ???? medal ????????
Proud of you HSP ????
????: @badmintonphoto @himantabiswa | @sanjay091968 | @lakhaniarun1 #BWC2023#Copenhagen2023#IndiaontheRise#BadmintonTwitter#Badminton pic.twitter.com/lj1rPBwap8
— BAI Media (@BAI_Media) August 26, 2023
Prannoy stormed into the semi-final of the BWF World Championships after defeating World Number 2 and the defending champion Viktor Axelsen at Kuala Lumpur on Friday.
With this win, World Number 7 Prannoy assured a bronze medal for India by beating the home favourite Axelsen in three games 21-13, 15-21, 16-21.
This is India’s 14th medal at the World Championships. This includes one gold, four silvers and nine bronze medals.
China is the most successful team in the tournament’s history, with 196 medals, including 69 gold, 48 silver and 79 silvers.
Prakash Padukone is the first-ever Indian to have won an individual medal at the World Championships. He clinched a bronze medal in 1983 in men’s singles.
After 28 years, Jwala and Ashwini brought back home a World Championship medal, clinching a bronze in the 2011 championships in women’s doubles.
PV Sindhu, India’s two-time Olympic medalist, is the first-ever Indian player to secure a women’s singles medal at the World Championships. After bronze medals in 2013 and 2014 and silver in 2017 and 2018, she reached the pinnacle in 2019, becoming the only Indian badminton world champion in all categories to date.
Indian tennis great Saina Nehwal has two World Championships medals to her name in the women’s singles category, a silver in 2015 and a bronze in 2017.
Sai Praneeth won a bronze for India in the men’s singles competition in the 2019 edition of the Championships.
The former world number one Kidambi Srikanth secured a silver medal in the 2021 Championships in men’s singles.
In the 2021 World Championships, Lakshya Sen secured a bronze medal in the men’s singles competition.
Last year, India’s current world number two ranked men’s doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty made history, becoming the first-ever men’s pair from India to secure a medal at a World Championships, with a bronze medal.
The BWF World Championships 2023 are being held from August 21 to 27 in Copenhagen, Denmark. India’s campaign in the tournament is over.
BWF World Championships 2023: Indian badminton players
-Men’s singles: HS Prannoy, Lakshya Sen, Kidambi Srikanth
-Women’s singles: PV Sindhu
-Men’s doubles: Chirag Shetty/Satwiksairaj Rankireddy, MR Arjun/Dhruv Kapila
-Women’s doubles: Treesa Jolly/Gayatri Gopichand, Ashwini Bhat K/Shikha Gautam
-Mixed doubles: Rohan Kapoor/N Sikki Reddy, Venkat Prasad/Juhi Dewangan. (ANI)