By Vipul Kashyap
Aichi-Nagoya [Japan], September 24 : After his team's bronze medal win in the men's competition at the Asian Games in Aichi-Nagoya, Indian shuttler HS Prannoy said that the medal shows the consistency of the team and will serve as a great confidence booster to the players ahead of their singles campaign. 
The Indian men’s badminton team secured a bronze medal at the Asian Games 2026 after suffering a 3-1 defeat against the People’s Republic of China in the semi-finals in Aichi, Japan, on Wednesday. Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty registered India’s only win of the tie, defeating reigning world champions Liang Weikeng and Wang Chang 21-11, 22-20 in the men’s doubles match.
Speaking to ANI, he said on the medal, "Extremely happy. It is really though to have medals at back-to-back Asian Games (he was also part of the silver-medal-winning team in the 2022 Hangzhou edition). Disappointed that we could not go deep into the tournament; we would have loved to play that final today. But I still feel that it is really important to acknowledge the bronze medal, and I think we should celebrate that. Because before the 2023 Asian Games, we never had a team medal. But I think in Hangzhou we ended up with a silver medal, and here with a bronze medal. So, I think that shows the consistency of the team. So, I am really happy with the way things went this week as well."
On if the medal in men's team competition will be great for the players competing in singles competition, Prannoy agreed, saying that it is a "confidence booster".
"I think getting a medal in the team event is definitely confidence booster. More than that, the players have also got used to have couple of great, tight matches, which gives confidence to them and gets them into tournament mode. So, I think it's a good start overall for the players, and hopefully from here, they take over and start playing the individual events in a much better way. Hopefully, we will have many more medals coming from the individual side as well," he added. 
Prannoy dedicated the medal to the support staff of the team and said that the team would celebrate the medal win by having a lunch together. 
"I will dedicate it to the entire support staff of the team. I think they have been working really hard, day in and day out, and I think it takes a lot of effort for them to make sure that we are in good shape physically and mentally. So, I would really want to dedicate this medal to them. And celebration—I am not really sure, probably we'll have a lunch today. I think everybody is going to be together and have a lunch today, so that is the celebration for this year's medal," he signed off.