Everyone currently is worried about the pandemic created by the Virus, but Indian Shuttler HS Prannoy’s mind is getting boggled with the thoughts about foreseeing the future situation heading with another large set of concerns emotionally and financially due to this outbreak and how the conditions will take a worse turn if the circumstances aren’t under control within a certain period.
The records prove that the digits have roughly crossed 40,000 globally and everything, whether we talk about sports or anything else has been either halted, suspended or cancelled amidst the ongoing chaos. This decision has raised financial and mental distresses globally.
“It is not a great time for any of the companies, they are not earning now with this lockdown and everything depends on sponsors, so yeah, it will have an impact on the sport,” Prannoy, a Commonwealth Games gold-medallist. The sponsors, they must have invested in other sports as well. So, I think things are very bleak for badminton and sports overall. We have less revenue coming in from a couple of places and if that also stops after a while, it will be a big problem for players. So, I hope it gets normal in one and a half month’s time”, told in an interview.
“There might be so many who would be anxious to go out there and play, probably 80 per cent of them, and it is not only about sportspersons, each and every individual might have mental issues…but we don’t have a choice right now,” We have to take it positively. We should find fun in whatever we are doing right now in everyday life, things which we have not been able to do all these years in our professional careers. Better to enjoy this time and keep up the fitness, work out, it will take away all the fatigue, both mental and physical. Just keep working.” Prannoy said.
The mental health due to this lockdown has been deflected around the globe as we hear it from the decorated Athletes like Serena Williams and swimmer Michael Phelps about this concerning issue. Alike many other sports stars cancelling their appearance on the events Prannoy also skipped the All England Championships due to concerns over the coronavirus outbreak in the host country last month.
He was critical of the Badminton World Federation (BWF)’s verdict to conduct the significant event despite the mounting dreads and also for not restricting the ranking in time. Now that BWF has decided to freeze world rankings backdated to March 17, Prannoy hailed the transfer but added the world body requires to be more proactive and prioritise the interests of the players.
“I think the BWF should be quick in reacting to these things. Until and unless players are taking to social media, they are not doing anything. They didn’t take any decision on ranking till players spoke about it. All England also, they were not serious,” the 27-year-old said.
Prannoy said BWF needs to change its rules and focus on appointing better umpires in big events besides ensuring video referral option in all courts.
“They have to prioritise players first. Badminton doesn’t have big money, and BWF is only putting players under pressure, there are many rules which are not helping players in any way,”
There are small things which make a big impact on sports like umpiring. In bigger tournaments like All England Championships at least, get the best umpires, they are not able to pay good money to umpires and referees. Also, BWF needs to make video line calls mandatory for each court and not just the centre court. All England is the biggest event in the world and still, they haven’t been able to do that, so these things don’t make sense.
Prannoy has been going through a tough phase in the last one and a half years with health issues and injuries affecting his performance. However, this enforced break has given him enough time to work on his fitness and game. This break is good for someone like me, who is not in a good shape or has been struggling. Everyone will be back to zero and have to think and restart so in a way it is a relief,”
“This way you can catch up with others. Because when an injury happens, it becomes difficult to catch up, you are always under pressure to cope up, so after 15-21 days of break, everyone will be the same. It will give you the freedom to try so many things, I think after this break, it will be easier to understand what you need to do to get better results,” said the current world no 28.”
