Pranav Chopra

Pranaav Jerry Chopra (born 6 September 1992) is an Indian badminton player. He joined the India national badminton team in 2007. In the year 2018, at the Commonwealth Games held in Gold Coast, Queensland, he won the gold medal in mixed team as being a member of the Indian mixed team. He is only the second player from India to reach Top 15 in the World Rankings in Mixed Doubles with his partner.

Childhood and early training Pranaav started training at the age of 7. He became the national champion twice in the boys doubles U-13 and U-19 events. At the U-19 level, he won a record nine titles in a year. If he is in the city, he used to train at Badminton Academy in the Shastri Hall, at Ludhiana. He lived in South City and later he joined Gopichand Badminton Academy, Hyderabad. He practiced eight hours and like to play doubles and mixed doubles instead of singles matches. He was coached by Pullela Gopichand. Pranaav has won medals in several national ranking tournaments. In the Youth Commonwealth Games, Pune, he won a bronze medal, at Fajr Senior International Challenge Cup in Tehran, Iran he won a gold medal and at Tata International Challenge in Mumbai he ended up winning a gold medal and in Bern, Switzerland at The Swiss International Challenge he won a silver medal.

Career

2007 In 2007, Pranaav made his international debut in the Milo Junior Tournament held in Bandang, Thailand.

2010 In 2010, Pranaav became the national champion in the mixed doubles event in the National Games.

2011 In 2011, Bern, Switzerland, Swiss International Challenge Pranaav won a silver medal in men's doubles event.

2016 In 2016, Pranaav won two Grand Prix titles with his mixed doubles partner N. Sikki Reddy in the form of Brasil Open and Russian Open. Later in the same year, he married his playing companion and an Indian badminton player, Pradnya Gadre.

2018 In the Commonwealth Games held in Gold Coast, Queensland, Pranaav paired with his mixed doubles partner, Gadde Ruthvika Shivani defeated Sri Lankan mixed doubles team led by Sachin Dias and Thilini Pramodika Hendahewa by 21-15, 19-21, 22-20 and gave Indian mixed team a lead for the run for the gold medal. Lastly, Indian mixed team defeated Sri Lanka's mixed team by 5-0 in all the five matches and thus Pranaav won the gold medal in mixed team as being a member of the Indian mixed team.

Achievements

South Asian Games Men's doubles Year Venue Partner Opponent Score Result 2016 Multipurpose Hall SAI–SAG Centre,Shillong, India Akshay Dewalkar Manu Attri B. Sumeeth Reddy 18–21, 17–21 Silver Silver

Mixed doubles Year Venue Partner Opponent Score Result 2016 Multipurpose Hall SAI–SAG Centre,Shillong, India N. Sikki Reddy Manu Attri Ashwini Ponnappa 30–29, 21–17 Gold Gold

Commonwealth Youth Games Boys' doubles Year Venue Partner Opponent Score Result 2008 Shree Shiv Chhatrapati Sports Complex, Pune, India B. Sai Praneeth Gary Fox Richard Morris 21–18, 23–21 Bronze Bronze

Asian Junior Championships Mixed doubles Year Venue Partner Opponent Score Result 2009 Stadium Juara,Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Prajakta Sawant Lu Kai Bao Yixin 12–21, 15–21 Bronze Bronze

BWF World Tour (1 runner-up) The BWF World Tour, announced on 19 March 2017 and implemented in 2018, is a series of elite badminton tournaments, sanctioned by Badminton World Federation (BWF). The BWF World Tour are divided into six levels, namely World Tour Finals, Super 1000, Super 750, Super 500, Super 300 (part of the HSBC World Tour), and the BWF Tour Super 100.

Mixed doubles Year Tournament Level Partner Opponent Score Result 2018 Hyderabad Open Super 100 N. Sikki Reddy Akbar Bintang Cahyono Winny Oktavina Kandow 21–15, 19–21, 23–25 Runner-up

BWF Grand Prix (3 titles, 2 runners-up) The BWF Grand Prix has two levels, the BWF Grand Prix and Grand Prix Gold. It is a series of badminton tournaments sanctioned by the Badminton World Federation (BWF) since 2007.

Men's doubles Year Tournament Partner Opponent Score Result 2016 Syed Modi International Akshay Dewalkar Goh V Shem Tan Wee Kiong 21–14, 22–24, 8–21 Runner-up

Mixed doubles Year Tournament Partner Opponent Score Result 2017 Syed Modi International N. Sikki Reddy B. Sumeeth Reddy Ashwini Ponnappa 22–20, 21–10 Winner 2016 Scottish Open N. Sikki Reddy Goh Soon Huat Shevon Jemie Lai 21–13, 18–21, 16–21 Runner-up 2016 Russian Open N. Sikki Reddy Vladimir Ivanov Valeria Sorokina 21–17, 21–19 Winner 2016 Brasil Open N. Sikki Reddy Toby Ng Rachel Honderich 21–15, 21–16 Winner BWF Grand Prix Gold tournament BWF Grand Prix tournament

BWF International Challenge/Series (3 titles, 2 runners-up) Men's doubles Year Tournament Partner Opponent Score Result 2015 Tata Open India International Akshay Dewalkar Wannawat Ampunsuwan Tinn Isriyanate 14–21, 9–21 Runner-up 2015 Bangladesh International Akshay Dewalkar Tan Chee Tean Tan Wee Gieen 21–16, 21–16 Winner 2011 Tata Open India International Akshay Dewalkar K. T. Rupesh Kumar Sanave Thomas 19–21, 21–17, 23–21 Winner 2011 Swiss International Akshay Dewalkar Lukasz Moren Wojciech Szkudlarczyk 21–17, 16–21, 12–21 Runner-up 2010 Iran Fajr International B. Sai Praneeth Ali Shahhosseini Mohammadreza Kheradmandi 21–17, 21–11 Winner BWF International Challenge tournament BWF International Series tournament