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HS Prannoy has responded to the statement made by
a BAI official and claimed that the whole thing is nothing but an excuse on
the federation’s part.
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New Delhi(Agencies) : India
shuttler HS Prannoy is yet to wash his hands off the controversial Arjuna Award
nomination saga, saying he will continue to fight for as he gears up to apply
for the nomination himself.
Last week, a day after Prannoy
lashed out at Badminton Association of India (BAI) for ignoring him for the
prestigious Arjuna Award, a BAI official informed that his exclusion was based
on disciplinary grounds. Prannoy has responded to the statement, claiming the
whole thing is nothing but an excuse on the federation’s part.
“They came out with their own version that
(Kidambi) Srikanth and I have disciplinary issues. I don’t want to comment on
that because I can now apply for the nomination on my own. I don’t need to go
through the association,” Prannoy told the Indian Express.
“If they want to do something like this, they
have the power to do it since the association is above the players. They have
done their part and given their punishment. Now I can at least proceed with it
my way and put in my request for Arjuna Awards.”
Prannoy had a fabulous 2017-18
season, rising to world No. 10. In 2017, he won the US Open and reached the
semi-finals of the Indonesia Open Super Series Premier with sensational wins
over Olympic champion Chen Long and Malaysian legend Lee Chong Wei. In 2018, he
became only the third Indian to win a men’s singles medal (bronze) at the Asian
championships. It took him to a career high ranking of world No. 8. Despite the
snub, Prannoy is not willing to throw in the towel just yet.
“I will definitely be fighting for it; I will
not let it go. I want to see how far I can go because I think I deserve the
award, looking at my performance and lack of recognition last year,” he said.
Prannoy admitted the decision did
not surprise him and went on to claim that his exclusion stems from the
federation’s alleged bias towards shuttlers from Kerala. Prannoy insisted that
his continuous pursual is a step in a direction of changing this trend.
“There have been a lot of players in the past
who have not received recognition and I feel that their names should have been
there. There are many shuttlers worthy of getting Arjuna, especially from my
state Kerala,” he said.
“Sanave Thomas and Rupesh Kumar are some of
the best doubles players ever produced by Kerala but they have not received the
award. These things have always happened to players from my state. There is no
one to speak for us. Getting these kinds of awards needs a push and a pull.”
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