Prannoy H. S.
Prannoy Haseena Sunil Kumar (born 17 July 1992), also known as H. S. Prannoy, is an Indian badminton player who currently trains at the Gopichand Badminton Academy in Hyderabad. Prannoy originally hails from Thiruvananthapuram and has a career-high world ranking of number 8, which he attained in June 2018. He studied at Kendriya Vidyalaya Akkulam. Career. Early career. Prannoy came to prominence after winning the silver medal in Boys' singles at the 2010 Summer Youth Olympics. He followed it up with another silver, this time at the Bahrain International Challenge, in 2011. However, as he struggled  for form and injuries, Prannoy endured a somewhat barren spell following these achievements. 2013. In 2013, he managed to reach the final of the Tata Open International Challenge in Mumbai, eventually losing to compatriot Sourabh Verma in the final. 2014. In 2014, Prannoy claimed two All India Senior National Ranking Championships: Manorama Indian Open All India Senior Ranking Badminton Tournament, Kerala and the V. V. Natu Memorial All India Senior Ranking Badminton Tournament, Pune. However, it was his exploits on the international circuit that caught everyone's attention. He was a semi-finalist at the 2014 India Open Grand Prix  Gold, Bitburger Open Grand Prix Gold,2014 Macau Open Grand Prix Gold and the Sri Lanka Open International Badminton Challenge in Colombo. Prannoy surprised one and all by reaching the final of the 2014 Vietnam Open Grand Prix where he lost to top seed and tournament favourite Dionysius Hayom Rumbaka of Indonesia. In the very next tournament, the Indonesia Open Grand Prix Gold, Prannoy went one better, this time beating local favourite Firman Abdul Kholik of Indonesia in straight sets. He managed to end the year as the third-highest ranked Indian at World no. 21. 2015. Prannoy started off the  year on a good note reaching the semifinals of the 2015 India Open Grand Prix Gold. He put up a spirited performance in the semifinals before bowing out to compatriot Srikanth Kidambi in 3 sets. His greatest victory came in the pre-quarters of the 2015 India Super Series, when he beat an in-form world number 2 Jan Ø. Jørgensen in 3 sets. This was probably his best performance thus far, earning him praise from all quarters. Prannoy played his heart out in the quarter-finals as well, but ultimately suffered defeat to Denmark's Viktor Axelsen. 2016. Prannoy  started 2016 on a good note by beating the German ace Marc Zwiebler in the finals of the Swiss Open Grand Prix gold 21–18, 21–15. 2017. Prannoy played for the Mumbai Rockets franchise in the 2017 season of the Premier Badminton League. In the 2017 Indonesia Open, he defeated the reigning Olympic silver medalist Lee Chong Wei and the reigning Olympic champion Chen Long in consecutive matches, but lost to Japanese Kazumasa Sakai in the semi-finals. At the US Open 2017, he defeated Vietnamese Nguyễn Tiến Minh to reach the finals, where he beat compatriot Parupalli Kashyap to win  the title. 2018. Prannoy participated in the 2018 Commonwealth Games, where he finished in fourth place after being beaten by Rajiv Ouseph of England in the bronze medal match. He then won a bronze medal at the 2018 Asian Championships, after beating second seed Son Wan-ho in the quarterfinals. However, he was defeated in the semifinal by third seed Chen Long. 2021. Prannoy had a disastrous start to 2021 after exiting in the early rounds of the 2021 Swiss Open and the 2021 All England Open. Dark clouds surrounded his career with lack of funds and sponsors. However, he  came back strongly after defeating reigning Olympic champion Viktor Axelsen in the 2nd round of the 2021 Indonesia Masters in November. He got further success in the 2021 BWF World Championships, held in December, where he upset World no. 9 Ng Ka Long of Hong Kong in the 1st round and World no. 10 Rasmus Gemke in the pre-quarterfinals. He lost to the eventual world champion Loh Kean Yew of Singapore in the quarterfinals. His consistent performances in the last few months of the year enabled him to rise to World no. 27 at the end of the year . Achievements. Asian Championships. "Men's singles" South Asian Games. "Men's singles" Youth Olympic Games. "Boys' singles" BWF World Junior Championships. "Boys' singles" BWF World Tour (1 runner-up). The BWF World Tour, which was announced on 19 March 2017 and implemented in 2018, is a series of elite badminton tournaments sanctioned by the Badminton World Federation (BWF). The BWF World Tours are divided into levels of World Tour Finals, Super 1000, Super 750, Super 500, Super 300 (part of the HSBC World Tour), and the BWF Tour Super 100. "Men's singles" BWF Grand Prix (3 titles, 1 runner -up). The BWF Grand Prix had two levels, the Grand Prix and Grand Prix Gold. It was a series of badminton tournaments sanctioned by the Badminton World Federation (BWF) and played between 2007 and 2017. "Men's singles" BWF International Challenge/Series (1 title, 2 runners-up). "Men's singles" Record against selected opponents. Includes results against Olympic quarterfinals, Worlds semifinalists, and Super Series finalists, as well as all Olympic opponents.