Exclusive | 'Not just Olympics, celebrate other medals as well': Prannoy, Chirag want change in attitude in India

India clinched the bronze medal at the recent Thomas Cup, marking another remarkable result for Indian badminton after the gold medal of 2022. However, the lukewarm celebration of the bronze medal from Indian fans has irked the Indian team with players wanting a change in the attitude towards the sports.

HS Prannoy and Chirag Shetty, two key members of the Indian gold medal victory in 2022 and the bronze win in 2026, talked exclusively to Firstpost about the recent achievement and how badminton actually peaked too early in the country which has resulted in only the biggest of medals making any news.

More from Badminton News

'Need to celebrate all medals and not just Olympics'

Recently, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy, partner of Shetty in men's doubles, was trolled when he urged fans to support badminton stars. Indian players were told to win Olympic medals to get celebrate but Prannoy explains that a lot of things need to go right for a medal at the Summer Games.

"You kind of get dejected when you're playing well and there is no appreciation. Everything has to fall in place for you to be on that Olympic podium. It's a once-in-four-years event. Sometimes it's hard that people kind of judge your entire career with that one tournament. I feel that is sometimes unfair," Prannoy, a former World No. 6 says.

Sharing his own tryst with bad luck ahead of the Paris Games, he says, "I got down with Chicken Gunya two weeks before the Paris Olympics. Is it my mistake? I don't know. I think it was probably because of one stupid mosquito. My entire six months or one year of my career was ruined because of that."

"These kind of stories are there in a lot of athletes' careers. It's not the issue with the player — everything just has to fall in line for that particular event. So at times it's unfair that we judge a player's entire profile by saying, 'OK, you're not an Olympic medalist, so you're nothing.'"

Prannoy wants fans to appreciate other good performances as well but also concedes that an Olympic medal is missing from the cabinet of Indian men in badminton.

"I feel maybe we can appreciate that you have all the rest of the medals out there. But yes, definitely that Olympic medal is something which is missing. Going forward, we are definitely going to try for that."

Chirag would have taken up cricket if money was the goal

Chirag also agrees that the lack of appreciation and financial incentive have forced him to rethink his decision of taking up badminton. But in the end, he says, he focuses on what is in his control

"When I decided to play badminton, I never really thought of whether I would be able to make money or anything. If that would have crossed my mind when I had picked up the sport, I would have picked up cricket — I definitely would not have picked up badminton."

"Once I was in it, even after winning the biggest of medals, sometimes you do have that thought coming in like, did I actually choose the right sport and are these wins being celebrated enough? But I think as athletes you are just focused on doing what is in your hand," Chirag says.

Indian badminton shot up in the late 2000s with an Olympic medal coming in women's singles event at 2012 (Saina Nehwal), 2016 and 2020 (both PV Sindhu). However, with the veterans past their prime, youngsters have not been as consistent in recent times. Prannoy believes that badminton in India peaked a bit too early and that is why media attention is now limited to the biggest of medals only.

"As a sport we kind of peaked way too early. That's unfortunate, I would say, because now if you don't make it to the highest podium, it is not news anymore, right?" Prannoy says.

The duo also talked about their bronze medal win at recent Thomas Cup and how they believe a proper sporting ecosystem can come up in the country. Watch full interview below:

2026 is an important year for Indian badminton with the Asian Games coming up where fans would be expecting a good return from shuttlers.