HS Prannoy ruled out of Gold Medal match in Asian Games 2023

Ahead of their maiden final in the Asian Games 2023 Badminton competition, the team has sustained a major blow. HS Prannoy has been ruled out of the Gold Medal match due to a back injury a few hours ahead of the game. He has been replaced by Mithun Manjunath, the WR-53 in the men’s final. Notably, Prannoy was the WR-7 player in the competition.

At this point, the nature of the injury i.e., the time he will take to recover and how serious it is yet to be determined. For the unversed, the ongoing calendar year of 2023 is the Olympic qualification year. It will be interesting to see how he manages himself till the Paris event.

Notably, last year, Prannoy sustained an ankle injury before the Thomas Cup final against Indonesia. Coming back to the ongoing event, he played a key role in India reaching the final. In the semis clash against South Korea’s Jeon Hyeokjin, he gave the team a 1-0 lead initially. He had won 18-21, 21-16, 21-19.

In the updated schedule for the final, Lakshya Sen will face Shi Yu Qi, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy/Chirag Shetty will be up against Liang Wei Keng and Wang Chang, and Kidambi Srikanth will meet Li Shi Feng.