HS Prannoy looked up, let out a big smile, looked down, let it sink in.

"Finally, I have a Worlds medal," he said, beaming.

At 31, he finally will stand on the podium at the World Championships. The colour of the medal is still to be determined (Update: Bronze), but on Friday in Copenhagen, he registered arguably the biggest single win of his career in an individual event. From a game down, the India No 1 defeated the World No 1 Viktor Axelsen with a stirring fightback in front of a raucous home support for the Dane. However far he goes in the tournament, that will be THE moment.

This is a story in the making over three World Championships.

2021, the seeds are sown

The year was a bizarre one for badminton, as it indeed was for all sport. Prannoy was among those prominent Indian names who missed out on qualifying for Tokyo Olympics. And, while he says in hindsight that he knew he had a few years at the top left in him, things didn't look bright back then. In that background, he wasn't even sure of competing at the Huelva World Championships that was pushed to the end of the year. He had spoken at that time about funding issues, among other things.

For him, Huelva marked a turning point on the court. Placed in the bottom half of the draw which was loaded heavier than the top half, Prannoy had two massive top-10 wins against Ng Ka Long Angus and Rasmus Gemke, both in three games and lasting more than 70 minutes. It was the year Srikanth Kidambi and Lakshya Sen finished together on the podium, but the tournament was significant for Prannoy too. That run, and a win over Axelsen a few weeks back, brought him back to the forefront. Remember the name.

2022, the year of mixed feelings

At the start of 2022, Prannoy appeared more at peace with where he was. At the sidelines of the India Open, he had said: “Acceptance level has been much better compared to last 4-5 years back. It was really tough to accept things coming my way... injuries, sponsorships, etc. I am at a phase where I have accepted all these. It is much more easier for me to push things away when it is not happening... when there is a negative issue, it’s been much easier for me to let it go. I have been thankful to god, at least I have been able to play this much badminton."

And so the year went on to be another significant one, as a few months down the line he ended up playing a crucial role in one of India's biggest ever sporting achievements: the Thomas Cup triumph. On the tour too, he was starting to be more consistent, starting to climb back the rankings.

The World Championships, however, was a different story. The computer handed the Indians in men's singles a nasty draw. For starters, they were all in each other's way in the same quarter. And there was also Kento Momota in the mix. Prannoy defeated the former world No 1, then battled past Lakshya Sen with a marathon fight... and then, with the podium in sight, didn't have enough in the tank to defeat Zhao Jun Peng in the last eight. Another quarterfinal finish, but this left him with mixed feelings. He wondered, at 30, if his chance of a major individual medal was over. Maybe it wasn't written for him.

And while there was good reason to think 2022 would go down as his best year, he wasn't fully sure. "I’ve never ranked years but yes, this year was a decent one for me," he told Aditya Chaturvedi in this Scroll interview.

2023, the dream is realised

He might be getting older, and in a sport that takes a massive toll on the athlete's body, it wasn't always clear where Prannoy's peak would be. He had an OK-ish start to the year, still playing well but the spark wouldn't come until May. The Malaysia Masters signified a huge moment in his career, as he ended a long wait for the title on the international circuit.

But the dream was always a major medal. When the draws were made for the World Championships in Copenhagen, I wonder what he thought. Here is a man who could beat anyone on his day, but he was given the task of going through a former world champion and the reigning Olympic and World Champion to reach the podium. Did he think once again maybe it wasn't his destiny? Or did he see an opportunity to make a statement? Either way, he had to dig deep. And dig, he did. Two marathon wins against Loh Kean Yew and Axelsen followed. And his perseverance paid off.

For the longest time, he has carried the tag of giant-killer. But none of his objectively BIG wins earned him, personally, a big trophy or a major medal. This, however, hits different... this win against Axelsen will go down in his career as the greatest single night. (I don't know if he agrees, but from the outside, it definitely feels so.)

The one thing that always stood out in interactions with Prannoy was how measured he can be, about his own successes and failures. After the Thomas Cup win last year, he was generous with his time for an interview once the initial euphoria and flurry of media commitments slowed down. He spoke in great detail about how he didn't consider himself an extraordinary talent, how he contemplated quitting the sport a few years back when he was too focussed on the short-term, and how he had to mentally turn things around in the recent years.

Amid the many success stories in Indian sport, one of the things I remember most vividly is a Twitter post from Prannoy after CWG 2018 where he was so brutal on himself, saying sorry for choking. I mean, who does that? It was one of the things I asked him about last May and he would say: “Commonwealth Games 2018, that was one of the toughest days for me, I would say. When I lost two matches in one day and finished without a medal. I still remember, I was just lost that day. And that’s when Bhaiya called me and I think we spoke for nearly three hours at the food court. He said: ‘you have put the effort which you actually have to. Just that, sometimes the win doesn’t come when you wish for but it comes when you’re not really expecting'."

That last line feels remarkably relevant now.

PS: A good read on Prannoy's evolution.

UPDATE: Prannoy finished his campaign with a hard-fought three-game defeat against Kunlavut Vitidsarn. It is a bronze for the India No 1 (and a new career-high ranking soon).