Star Indian shuttler HS Prannoy was tad disillusioned to overlook out on a World championships gold medal however stated the bronze meant quite a bit to him, calling it because the “first starting step” on solution to the coveted title. Prannoy’s dream run on the World Championships ended after he misplaced 21-18 13-21 14-21 to world quantity 3 Kunlavut Vitidsarn of Thailand within the males’s singles semifinal to log out with a bronze medal. The win prolonged India’s file of getting a minimum of one medallist within the showpiece since 2011.

“For me, this bronze medal means so much personally because it has been almost 12 years in the circuit, you always want to have those big medals in your hand,” he stated after the match.

“Yes, you are disappointed for not getting the gold but the first starting step is with bronze.” The 31-year-old from Kerala thanked the teaching workers and his household for backing him.

“A lot of people has done a lot of hard work in the last few years and a lot of things came in place this week. Thanks to all of them who have been working day and night with me so that I can play better and my entire family backing me from home,” he stated.

“It is not easy because you are in the circuit the entire year and hardly get time for family and friend, sometimes it takes a load.

“So these sort of candy reminiscences are all the time good, you’re really feel motivated to return and work, in any other case it’s actually robust to do the entire thing.” The 31-year-old Prannoy squandered an opening game advantage and a 5-1 lead in the second as Vitidsarn, a three-time former world junior champion, displayed his mental fortitude and solid defence to seal a second successive final spot.

Prannoy was coming into the match after playing two three-game matches which lasted close to 70 minutes and he admitted it took a toll on his body.

“When you’re on the court docket you are feeling you could have accomplished every little thing however if you end off, you are feeling you may have accomplished extra. Physically I could not push by means of as we speak, the legs weren’t in nice form,” the world number 9 said.

India’s top-ranked men’s singles shuttler made a solid start but signs of exhaustion set in from the second game.

“I used to be attempting exhausting from inside, not letting go simply however credit score to him he was placing in shuttle repeatedly at a very good velocity and never making any straightforward errors at any level,” he said.

“At the third sport, I misplaced that first half, it was essential. You cannot be down 5-1. I’ve to essentially respect how my physique taking such matches, it’s not straightforward to play 70 minutes again to again for 4 days.

“He is much younger, he is able to recover much faster. But I am really happy with the way things went this week.” Notwithstanding the loss, it was an excellent achievement for Prannoy as he grew to become solely the fifth Indian males’s singles participant to win a World Championships medal.

Kidambi Srikanth (silver), Lakshya Sen (bronze), B Sai Praneeth (bronze) and Prakash Padukone (bronze) are the opposite medallists in males’s singles. PTI ATK PDS PDS

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