HASEENA SUNIL KUMAR Prannoy

General
OFF-COURT CHANGES
After he won the men's singles title at the 2023 Malaysia Masters in Kuala Lumpur, he said he believed that his performances were improving after several years of working with a refreshed support team and adjusting his off-court preparation. "In 2019 I decided to revamp my off-court support staff and brought in some new faces including a trainer, a nutritionist and a mental psychologist. They have been working closely with me for the past four years and now the results have started to pay off. I used to hate doing psychological sessions and half-hour sessions where I just focused on breathing. But practising those feelings makes life on the court a lot easier. That has changed my career. Maybe I could have tried [making these changes] earlier in my career but I guess it's better late than never." (timesofindia, 05 Jun 2023; sportstar, 29 May 2023)

HEALTH ISSUES
In November 2020 he contracted COVID-19, and he struggled with the after-effects of the virus. "Post-COVID, the lining of my lungs got inflamed, I had a constant cough and I had to rule everything out. When there are long rallies, when you are gasping for breath, you are pushing the muscles and air flow. There is friction in the lining, it hurts. Medication was not recommended, the only way out is natural healing. So I tried breathing exercises, made changes to my diet, which I had to anyway as I had gut issues earlier. The breathing sessions helped, it made a difference and I am 30 to 40% better [speaking in December 2021]." In mid-2018 he was diagnosed with gastroesophageal reflux disease [acid reflux] and changed his diet as a result of the condition. "My food was not getting digested properly, I was feeling it was not going down the oesophagus. I was hungry all day, and when I was training the food was coming back up. I also had problems with breathing. I had to stop eating mushrooms, bacon, milk and eggs. All these were irritating my gut, so I had to get rid of them." (firstpost, 22 Dec 2021; bwfbadminton, 29 Mar 2019)

EARLY DAYS
In 2008, when he was a teenager, his parents doubted he could have a career in the sport and wanted him to focus on education. "I was having a discussion with my parents whether I should continue playing badminton or focus on my studies. It was a point where there wasn't any certainty on which option I should pick. There was a lot of expenditure involved and my family wasn't financially sound at that moment. The question on their mind was whether there was any career in badminton. At that time, the only thing I could say was to give me two years. That was the pact I made with them. That's how I went to Hyderabad [to join the Pullela Gopichand Badminton Academy]." (sportstar, 06 Dec 2022)

He was part of the team that won India's first Thomas Cup title at the 2022 edition of the tournament in Bangkok, Thailand. (SportsDeskOnline, 06 Feb 2023; sportstar, 15 May 2022)