Breaking into world’s top three is my target: Prannoy

NEW DELHI: He may be one of the front-runners in the Olympic race but star Indian shuttler HS Prannoy doesn’t want to think about Paris right now and is instead focusing on “short-term targets” like breaking into the world’s top three.

The most consistent Indian singles player in the last 12 months, Prannoy, ranked world number 9, won the Malaysia Masters in May and came within sniffing distance of bagging another title in Sydney, before finishing runner-up at last week’s Australian Open.

“Right now, probably I am in a good position. I had a few decent tournaments post-May but I would say I am never satisfied and I always want to go out there and win big tournaments, that’s been always my ambition,” Prannoy said.

“Last couple of years, I have been consistently able to play quarterfinals and semifinals and now I am trying to make sure that I go that extra one more round and be in the final and win those tournaments.”

The 31-year-old Indian, who reached three quarterfinals and a semifinal besides the two finals this season, had achieved the world number 8 ranking in 2017 before health issues affected his game as he plummeted to 33 in 2021.

However, the man from Thiruvananthapuram returned to the top 10 in December last year before achieving a career-best world number 7 ranking in May this year. “In the coming months that will be the challenge: to get into the top five, or be in the top three in the world, which I have never been able to do so far. I think that is the target as of now. I am not looking way ahead, at the Olympics,” Prannoy said.

“Now the targets are much shorter, how we can perform next week or say World Championship or China Open, that’s the only target and the rest will take care of itself.”

The next assignment will be the World Championships (August 21-27) in Denmark, followed by China Open Super 1000 (September 5-10) and the Asian Games (September 23–October 8) in Hangzhou.

Prannoy had quarterfinal finishes in last two editions of the World Championships but he doesn’t want to put himself under any kind of pressure this time as recovery will be the key, especially after coming from three successive tournaments.

“I am not really looking into the world championships as of now, I know it is just two weeks away. We had three back-to-back tournaments -- Korea, Japan and Australia,” he said.

“I had a good three weeks of tournaments. Korea was also good but conditions were tricky, I couldn’t go past quarters.

“Japan and Australia were very good, I played some good matches against top players and to reach a final of a third tournament is always tough physically and mentally.”