The biggest hope lies on the shoulders of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty after they clinched a gold medal in the Hangzhou Asian Games.
"I think if you look at the last 4-5 years I would say we have done exceptionally well in the bigger events. I think even if it is the Commonwealth Games, World Championships we all had good results in the past. So I think getting into the Olympics say from Sindhu's perspective or Satwik-Chirag's perspective everybody has got their chances. Tanisha also qualified and looking from a medal perspective everybody has got their chance. You just have to be extremely well mentally and physically for 6 days or probably 10 days of the tournament. Whoever is going to do that I think will be standing on the podium. So I think in that way we have got a very good team this year which is going to Olympics," Prannoy told ANI.
Prannoy said he was excited to represent the country in his first Olympics. Ranked ninth in the world in the men's singles category Prannoy is the highest Indian-ranked player.
"I think it is always exciting when it comes to an Olympic period because there is a lot of eyes on players when it comes to the Olympics and for me, I think this is going to be the first Olympics for me and I would say very happy first of all to get qualified I think the biggest task especially when it comes to qualification period to be injury free to play whole tournament full here. I think it is a very taxing period out there for players with a lot of tournaments out there but to finally qualify kind of gives a lot of relief I would say and looking from the fact we have two men singles from a very long time. It gives a lot of motivation I think as well. Lakshya is also playing really well and the last few months and to have somebody with me going into will always give me extra motivation," Prannoy said.
World No. 9 Prannoy was in the national capital on Monday to inaugurate a Victor showroom along with women's doubles specialist Ashwini Ponnappa. With India consistently winning three medals in the Olympics in badminton two bronze and one silver the expectation from the Indian shuttlers would be the change in the colour of the medal as well as more than one medal in one Olympic event.
"We always hope to do that. In Asian Games, also, I think we all were expecting to get one medal but I think we eventually came back with three medals from badminton. So, I think that kind of stayed. If you are positive enough to look into the result then sometimes wonders can happen. So, we are hoping that tables kind of turnaround in Olympics and we can hopefully give something for the entire nation to cheer," Prannoy added.
Since London 2012, India have won a badminton medal in every Olympic medal. India have three medals in badminton till now in the history of the Summer Games. PV Sindhu is a two-time Olympic medallist, with a silver and a bronze medal. While, Saina Nehwal bagged India's first medal in badminton at the Olympics, after her opponent, China's Wang Xin, was forced to retire hurt. Saina claimed a bronze medal and etched her name in the record books.
(ANI)
