After registering one of the most memorable victories of his career even after an ankle injury, Indian badminton player HS Prannoy has said that the mentality of not giving up under any circumstances has encouraged him to win a resounding victory over Denmark in the Thomas Cup semi-finals. Prannoy performed brilliantly in the decisive singles match which has made history for the Indian men's team with a 3-2 win over Denmark here on Friday.
The Indian team has managed to reach the final of the Thomas Cup for the first time. Against world number 13 Rasmus Gameke, Prannoy also suffered an ankle injury due to slipping on the court but the Indian continued the fight after taking a 'medical timeout'. He looked in pain on the court but despite this trouble, he has won 13-21 21-9 21-12 to register India's name in the pages of history.
Prannoy has said after the match that mentally there were a lot of things going on in my mind. After slipping, I was feeling more pain than usual and I was not even able to walk properly. I wondered what was necessary to do in such a situation. There was talk of not giving up in my mind, I just wanted to try and see how things were going. I was praying that the pain wouldn't increase. My pain started to ease during the second game and during the third game I was feeling a lot better.
The Indian team had never progressed beyond the semi-finals since 1979. But he has shown a fighting spirit and defeated 2016 champions Denmark. Prannoy has said that his plan was to keep the pressure on his opponent by going to court after the medical timeout and it has worked in his favour as well. He has said that the strategy that we have used in the second and third games was very important. The strategy was to keep up the pressure and I knew that if I take a good lead in the second half, there is going to be another opportunity to stay in the match.
The team reached the semi-finals of the senior national women's hockey from Jharkhand to Odisha
