New Delhi:For a seasoned campaigner like HS Prannoy, a quarterfinal finish at the World Championships would not count for much under normal circumstances but it is nothing short of a medal this time given all that the shuttler has endured in the last three years.
Prannoy has been fighting two battles -- one against opponents on court and the other against his own body.
A former world no.8, Prannoy was diagnosed with a gastroesophageal reflux disease (a digestive ailment in which stomach acid or bile irritates the food pipe lining) during the 2018 World Championships.
The condition took a lot of time to heal as he struggled with his training and performance.
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Once he somewhat recovered from it, the Indian was hit by coronavirus in November 2020 and ever since, he has been battling the after-affects of the infection, which continued to affect his game and forced him to look for alternative treatment.
"Post COVID, the lining of my lungs got inflamed, I had constant cough and I had to rule everything out, meaning, if there was any muscle related injury," Prannoy told PTI.
"I've been always in pain. 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."
Prannoy said he met a specialist in September and he can feel a difference now.
"We confirmed that it was an inflammation in the lung, medication was not recommended, only way out is natural healing. So I tried breathing exercises, made changes to my diet, which anyway I had to as I had gut issues earlier," he said.
"The breathing sessions helped, it made a difference and I am 30-40 per cent better, I have been feeling better."
It reflected in his performance as notched up a morale-boosting win over Olympic champion Viktor Axelsen of Denmark to make the quarterfinals of the Indonesia Masters.