ARJUNA AWARD Snubbed Prannoy smashes BAI men
New Delhi, June 3: Livid at not being nominated for the Arjuna award for the second consecutive year, Indian shuttler H. S. Prannoy said players less accomplished than him have been recommended by the Badminton Association of India (BAI).
BAI on Tuesday recommended top doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty and men's singles player Sameer Verma for the coveted award.
Prannoy took to Twitter to express his displeasure.
“#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,” Prannoy wrote.
Out of the three recommendations, SatwikChirag won the silver at 2018 CWG, but Sameer has never played at the prestigious tournament.
The 25-year-old from Dhar didn’t have a good run last year.
The 2016 Hong Kong Open finalist, however, was in sizzling form in 2018, winning three titles to reach a career-best ranking of World No.11. His dazzling run also earned him a place in the BWF World Tour Finals 2018, where he reached the semifinals.
BAI said it has “diligently assessed the performances of the athletes and coaches during the last four years before sending the names to the Sports Ministry for the recommendation.”
In the last four years,
Arjuna awards 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.
— H. S. PRANNOY Indian badminton player tweeted
Prannoy had a good run in 2018 where he won a gold medal as part of the Indian mixed team which became champions at the Commonwealth Games for the first time.
He was 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 finals 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.
Prannoy received some support from former Commonwealth Games champion Parupalli Kashyap. “Never actually understood the system of applying for an award. I hope this changes. Be strong bro,” Kashyap replied via tweeted. — PTI