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Ahead of his debut at the season-ending BWF World Tour Finals, World No. 12 men's singles shuttler HS Prannoy was rewarded at the BWF Awards held in Bangkok, Thailand, on Monday (December 5).
The Pullela Gopichand protege was adjudged the Best Dressed Male of the Year at the Gala Dinner. The elated Kerala shuttler took to Twitter to express his joy at winning the award, giving his followers a sneak peek of how his gorgeous outfit was made.
Sharing three photos from the event, Prannoy captioned the post:
"WORLD TOUR FINALS 2022 - GALA DINNER - Wearing this specially created outfit by @ManishantarDESI. Handwoven in Varanasi & handmade with love in delhi. And to get awarded with the Best Dressed Male was super cool 😎 😉 Thanks @bwfmedia"
Notably, Prannoy is the third Indian to win this award. Former World No. 1 Kidambi Srikanth was the first to do so in 2017. A year later, two-time Olympic medalist PV Sindhu bagged the award in the female category.
Meanwhile, World No. 1s Viktor Axelsen and Akane Yamaguchi were declared the BWF Male Player of the Year and BWF Female Player of the Year respectively.
Manisha Ramadass beats Manasi Joshi to win Female Para-Badminton Player of the Year award
India's 17-year-old Manisha Ramadass clinched the BWF Female Para Badminton Player of the Year award ahead of her compatriots Manasi Girishchandra Joshi and Nithya Sre Sumathy. The SU5 world champion, who hails from Tamil Nadu, has won 11 gold and five bronze medals this season.
HS Prannoy loses out in BWF Most Improved Player of the Year category
HS Prannoy was also in the running for the BWF Most Improved Player of the Year award. The 30-year-old, though, was edged out by the Indonesian men's doubles pair of Fajar Alfian/Muhammad Rian Ardianto, who won four titles from eight finals this year.
The BWF World Tour Finals get underway in Bangkok on December 7. HS Prannoy is India's sole entrant following the withdrawal of PV Sindhu. He has been clubbed with Viktor Axelsen, World No. 14 Kodai Naraoka and World No. 17 Lu Guang Zu in Group A.
