‘This country is a joke’: HS Prannoy lashes out after Arjuna Award snub for 2nd year in row; finds support
Shuttler HS Prannoy is furious after he was ignored for the Arjuna Award nomination by the Badminton Association of India (BAI). He found support from fellow badminton players
FollowBengaluru: India’s badminton player HS Prannoy has lashed out at the Badminton Association of India (BAI) after he was ignored for the Arjun Award nomination for the second year in a row.
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The 27-year-old, who is ranked 28 in the world in men’s singles, took to Twitter to express his disappoint and said “this country is a joke”.
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“#arjunaawards Same old story. Guy who has Medals in Cwg and Asian Championships not even recommended by Association. And guy who was not there on any of these major events recommended #waah #thiscountryisajoke (sic),” Prannoy wrote on his Twitter page.
“If you ever want your name in the Awards list , make sure you have people who will get your name to the list. Performance is least considered in our country. Sad state of our county but can’t help it. Let go and just play until you can. #arjunaawards (sic),” the player had written last year.
On Tuesday (June 2), India’s top men’s doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty and men’s singles player Sameer Verma were nominated by BAI for the Arjuna Awards.
In 2018, Prannoy had a good run where he won a gold medal as part of the Indian mixed team which became champion at the Commonwealth Games for the first time.
He won a bronze at the Wuhan Asian Championships and achieved a career-best ranking of World No. 8 in May, 2018.
In 2017, Prannoy had defeated former World No. 1 Lee Chong Wei of Malaysia and reigning Olympic Champion Chen Long of China in successive matches in the Indonesian Open.
He also reached the final of the US Open the same year. At home, he won his maiden senior national championship title beating then World No. 2 Kidambi Srikanth in the final.
He was also part of the men’s team which won bronze medals at the Asia Team Championships in 2016 and 2020.
On Twitter, Prannoy found support as fellow badminton players Parupalli Kashyap and Pranaav Jerry Chopra tweeted.
“Never actually understood the system of applying for an award . I hope this changes . Be strong bro (sic),” former Commonwealth Games champion Kashyap wrote.
(With inputs from PTI)
