Badminton: World championship bronze medallist Sai Praneeth announces retirement

Indian shuttler Sai Praneeth announced his retirement from the sport on Monday (March 4). Praneeth, a world championship bronze medallist, cited injury concerns and a 'demanding schedule' as two important factors for his sudden retirement ahead of the Paris Olympics which getunderway later this year. The 32-year-oldbecame the first Indian male shuttler in 36 years to clinch a bronze medal in the BWF World Championships in 2019. He achieved the feat after Prakash Padukone did so in 1983. The shuttler was honoured with the prestigious Arjuna Award in the same year as well.

Taking to his official handle on X, formerly known as Twitter, Praneeth shared a lengthy note while announcing his decision to step aside from the sport as a player. Here is the post:

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Soon after his retirement, he spoke at length about his decision to The Hindu. He said, "There is no specific reason but I felt the way I had to struggle last year because of a combination of factors including injuries, I thought I cannot cope with the demanding schedule of playing sometimes two matches in a day in some of the majors. Well, age is also a factor. At 32, I could have played at the most another one year. So, I took the call after discussing it with my parents and my wife (Sweta). There are no regrets at all."

Reflecting on his highs and lows, Praneeth said, "Well, losing in the first round of 2020 Olympics has been the biggest disappointment while winning the 2019 World Championship bronze and the Singapore Open should be the high points of my career. Looking back at the journey, I am quite satisfied with my contribution to Indian badminton and I hope I will be remembered as a special player in a group which really dominated the world stage."

He added, "Beating the likes of Lee Chong Wei in 2016 All England in the first round and some of the big names like Chen Long, Taufik Hidayat and Lin Dan are great memories for sure. Frankly, I feel I have done what I could in the long career. Yes, I could have won some big tournaments and then the script would have been different."

Praneeth concluded by saying, "I do believe even if there can be a gap once our group of players (the others being K. Srikanth, H.S. Prannoy, P. Kashyap, Sameer Varma) quit the sport. Yes, there are some real good players like Lakshya (Sen) and Priyanshu. I hope they will continue the legacy."

In recent years, Praneeth's progress has been halted due to regular injury concerns. Thus, this prompted him to step aside but he still has a lot to offer and it will be interesting to see how he contributes in whatever new role he takes up going ahead.