H. S. Prannoy

Prannoy Haseena Sunil Kumar (born 17 July 1992), also known as H. S. Prannoy, is an Indian badminton player who currently trains at the Gopichand Badminton Academy in Hyderabad. He has won bronze medals at the 2023 World Championships and at the 2022 Asian Games. Prannoy was part of India winning team at the 2018 Commonwealth Games and 2022 Thomas Cup. He originally hails from Thiruvananthapuram and has a career-high world ranking of number 6, which he attained in August 2023. He studied at Kendriya Vidyalaya Akkulam.

Career

Early career Prannoy came to prominence after winning the silver medal in the boys' singles at the 2010 Summer Youth Olympics. He followed it up with another silver, this time at the Bahrain International Challenge, in 2011. However, as he struggled for form and injuries, Prannoy endured a somewhat barren spell following these achievements.

2013 In 2013, Prannoy managed to reach the final of the Tata Open International Challenge in Mumbai, eventually losing to compatriot Sourabh Verma in the final.

2014 In 2014, Prannoy claimed two All India Senior National Ranking Championships: Manorama Indian Open All India Senior Ranking Badminton Tournament, Kerala and the V. V. Natu Memorial All India Senior Ranking Badminton Tournament, Pune. However, it was his exploits on the international circuit that caught everyone's attention. He was a semi-finalist at the 2014 India Open Grand Prix Gold, Bitburger Open Grand Prix Gold, 2014 Macau Open Grand Prix Gold and the Sri Lanka Open International Badminton Challenge in Colombo.

Prannoy surprised one and all by reaching the final of the 2014 Vietnam Open Grand Prix where he lost to top seed and tournament favourite Dionysius Hayom Rumbaka of Indonesia. In the very next tournament, the Indonesia Open Grand Prix Gold, Prannoy went one better, this time beating local favourite Firman Abdul Kholik of Indonesia in straight sets. He managed to end the year as the third-highest ranked Indian at World no. 21.

2015 Prannoy started off the year on a good note reaching the semifinals of the 2015 India Open Grand Prix Gold. He put up a spirited performance in the semifinals before bowing out to compatriot Srikanth Kidambi in 3 sets. His greatest victory came in the pre-quarters of the 2015 India Super Series, when he beat an in-form world number 2 Jan Ø. Jørgensen in 3 sets. He played his heart out in the quarter-finals as well, but ultimately suffered defeat to Denmark's Viktor Axelsen.

2016 Prannoy started 2016 on a good note by beating German ace Marc Zwiebler in the finals of the Swiss Open Grand Prix gold 21–18, 21–15.

2017 Prannoy played for the Mumbai Rockets franchise in the 2017 season of the Premier Badminton League. In the 2017 Indonesia Open, he defeated the reigning Olympic silver medalist Lee Chong Wei and the reigning Olympic champion Chen Long in consecutive matches, but lost to Japanese Kazumasa Sakai in the semi-finals. At the 2017 U.S. Open, he defeated Vietnamese Nguyễn Tiến Minh to reach the finals, where he beat compatriot Parupalli Kashyap to win the title.

2018 Prannoy participated in the 2018 Commonwealth Games, where he finished in fourth place after being beaten by Rajiv Ouseph of England in the bronze medal match. He then won a bronze medal at the 2018 Asian Championships, after beating second seed Son Wan-ho in the quarterfinals. However, he was defeated in the semifinal by third seed Chen Long.

2021 Prannoy had a disastrous start to 2021 after exiting in the early rounds of the 2021 Swiss Open and the 2021 All England Open. However, he came back strongly in the second half of the year, most notably defeating reigning Olympic champion Viktor Axelsen in the 2nd round of the 2021 Indonesia Masters in November. He got further success in the 2021 BWF World Championships, held in December, where he upset World no. 9 Ng Ka Long of Hong Kong in the 1st round and World no. 10 Rasmus Gemke in the pre-quarterfinals. He lost to the eventual world champion Loh Kean Yew of Singapore in the quarterfinals. His consistent performances in the last few months of the year enabled him to rise to World no. 27 at the end of the year.

2022 Prannoy was part of the India squad for the 2022 Thomas Cup. In the quarter-final against Malaysia, he won the decider match against Leong Jun Hao to assure India a semi-final spot and its first-ever medal in the Thomas Cup. He repeated this performance in the semi-final against Denmark, beating Rasmus Gemke in the deciding match to take India to the final, which India eventually won.

Prannoy also had a consistent year on the BWF World Tour, reaching six quarterfinals and two semifinals, as well as the quarterfinal of the 2022 BWF World Championships. This enabled him to re-enter the Top 15 in the BWF World Rankings after 4 years. He also qualified for the BWF World Tour Finals for the first time in his career.

Achievements

BWF World Championships Men's singles Year Venue Opponent Score Result 2023 Royal Arena, Copenhagen, Denmark Kunlavut Vitidsarn 21–18, 13–21, 14–21 Bronze Bronze

Asian Games Men's singles Year Venue Opponent Score Result 2022 Binjiang Gymnasium, Hangzhou, China Li Shifeng 16–21, 9–21 Bronze Bronze

Asian Championships Men's singles Year Venue Opponent Score Result 2018 Wuhan Sports Center Gymnasium, Wuhan, China Chen Long 16–21, 18–21 Bronze Bronze

South Asian Games Men's singles Year Venue Opponent Score Result 2016 Multipurpose Hall SAI–SAG Centre, Shillong, India Srikanth Kidambi 21–11, 14–21, 6–21 Silver Silver

Youth Olympic Games Boys' singles

BWF World Junior Championships Boys' singles Year Venue Opponent Score Result 2010 Domo del Code Jalisco, Guadalajara, Mexico Kang Ji-Wook 13–21, 9–21 Bronze Bronze

BWF World Tour (1 title, 2 runners-up) The BWF World Tour, which was announced on 19 March 2017 and implemented in 2018, is a series of elite badminton tournaments sanctioned by the Badminton World Federation (BWF). The BWF World Tour is divided into levels of World Tour Finals, Super 1000, Super 750, Super 500, Super 300, and the BWF Tour Super 100.

Men's singles Year Tournament Level Opponent Score Result 2022 Swiss Open Super 300 Jonatan Christie 12–21, 18–21 Runner-up 2023 Malaysia Masters Super 500 Weng Hongyang 21–19, 13–21, 21–18 Winner 2023 Australian Open Super 500 Weng Hongyang 9–21, 23–21, 20–22 Runner-up

BWF Grand Prix (3 titles, 1 runner-up) The BWF Grand Prix had two levels, the Grand Prix and Grand Prix Gold. It was a series of badminton tournaments sanctioned by the Badminton World Federation (BWF) and played between 2007 and 2017.

Men's singles Year Tournament Opponent Score Result 2014 Vietnam Open Dionysius Hayom Rumbaka 21–18, 15–21, 18–21 Runner-up 2014 Indonesian Masters Firman Abdul Kholik 21–11, 22–20 Winner 2016 Swiss Open Marc Zwiebler 21–18, 21–15 Winner 2017 U.S. Open Kashyap Parupalli 21–15, 20–22, 21–12 Winner BWF Grand Prix Gold tournament BWF Grand Prix tournament

BWF International Challenge/Series (1 title, 2 runners-up) Men's singles Year Tournament Opponent Score Result 2011 Bahrain International Sourabh Varma 23–25, 12–21 Runner-up 2013 Tata Open India International Sourabh Varma 12–21, 17–21 Runner-up 2014 Tata Open India International R. M. V. Gurusaidutt 21–16, 20–22, 21–17 Winner BWF International Challenge tournament BWF International Series tournament

Record against selected opponents Record against Year-end Finals finalists, World Championships semi-finalists, and Olympic quarter-finalists. Accurate as of 31 July 2025.

Player Matches Won Lost Chen Long 6 1 5 –4 Du Pengyu 1 0 1 –1 Lin Dan 5 3 2 +1 Shi Yuqi 9 2 7 –5 Tian Houwei 1 0 1 –1 Zhao Junpeng 3 1 2 –1 Chou Tien-chen 14 6 8 –2 Anders Antonsen 4 2 2 0 Viktor Axelsen 10 3 7 –4 Jan Ø. Jørgensen 4 4 0 +4 Hans-Kristian Vittinghus 1 1 0 +1 Rajiv Ouseph 4 1 3 –2 Parupalli Kashyap 4 3 1 +2 Srikanth Kidambi 10 3 7 –4 B. Sai Praneeth 5 3 2 +1 Lakshya Sen 8 3 5 –2 Anthony Sinisuka Ginting 6 4 2 +2 Taufik Hidayat 1 1 0 +1 Sony Dwi Kuncoro 3 2 1 +1 Tommy Sugiarto 3 3 0 +3 Kento Momota 8 1 7 –6 Kodai Naraoka 7 1 6 –5 Lee Chong Wei 5 2 3 –1 Liew Daren 12 8 4 +4 Loh Kean Yew 6 4 2 +2 Heo Kwang-hee 1 1 0 +1 Lee Hyun-il 3 1 2 –1 Son Wan-ho 5 2 3 –1 Boonsak Ponsana 2 2 0 +2 Kunlavut Vitidsarn 3 0 3 –3 Kantaphon Wangcharoen 3 2 1 +1 Nguyễn Tiến Minh 2 1 1 0