How Sai Praneeth ended India’s 36-year wait for a men’s singles Worlds medal
Neither the 36-year wait for a men’s singles World Championship medal since Prakash Padukone, nor the fact that he had lost in the quarterfinals in 2018, weighed heavily on B Sai Praneeth ahead of the 2019 Basel World’s. He insists, seven years on, that keeping only the next step in mind helped him land a bronze, even as Kidambi Srikanth, Lakshya Sen and HS Prannoy followed in subsequent years. “It’s Jonatan Christie. I had a chance to beat him,” he would tell himself. 2019 will always be remembered for the PV Sindhu gold. But on an adjacent court, a classical strokemaker undaunted by past misses, unaffected even by the significance of its big picture, would track down the elusive medal. “Someone had to start, so I did,” he simply says. “I don’t remember much about the match details now. Only that I had beaten Christie twice, lost once, knew I could beat him again. But yes, I had to win the first set – when he comes under pressure, he cracks,” Sai recalls. Saina-Sindhu would …
