HS Prannoy Fumes Over Lack Of Hawkeye At Badminton Asia Championships: ‘It’s 2026’

Last Updated:April 09, 2026, 3:59 PM IST

HS Prannoy slams lack of Hawkeye at Badminton Asia Championships as Indians including PV Sindhu suffer early exits.

HS Prannoy made a second-round exit from the Badminton Asia Championships (Picture credit: AFP)

Asian Games bronze medallist shuttler HS Prannoy has pointed out the lack of Hawkeye on Court 2 at the Ningbo Olympic Sports Centre, where the Badminton Asia Championships are being played. Prannoy lost his second-round match to Weng Hong Yang in straight games, despite putting up a fight in the second.

Throughout the day, Hawkeye wasn’t available on the second court, with double Olympic medallist PV Sindhu also left frustrated with the situation during her match against second-seed Wang Zhi Yi. She too lost in straight games.

Introduced by the Badminton World Federation in 2014, Hawk-Eye technology is an optical tracking system that uses several high-speed cameras to generate 3D simulations of shuttlecock trajectories, enabling instant reviews of line calls.

“It’s 2026 and I still can’t believe there is no Hawkeye in court 2 for a Super 1000 event 🤦🏻🤯,” Prannoy tweeted on Thursday afternoon.

Prannoy, returning after a shoulder injury, fought hard but lost 12-21, 19-21 to China’s Weng Hong Yang.

In mixed doubles, Dhruv Kapila and Tanisha Crasto bowed out after a 13-21, 14-21 loss to fourth-seeded Malaysians Chen Tang Jie and Toh Ee Wei.

Unnati Hooda lost in straight games to Japan’s Tomoko Miyazaki, while the women’s doubles duo of Shruti Mishra and Priya Konjengbam will take on the fifth-seeded pair of Yuki Fukushima and Mayu Matsumoto.

Ayush Shetty cruised into the men’s singles quarterfinals with an emphatic straight-game victory over Chi Yu Jen, while Sindhu exited the women’s competition in Ningbo on Thursday.

Ayush, the reigning US Open Super 300 champion, delivered a dominant 21-16, 21-12 win against world No. 20 Chi Yu Jen of Chinese Taipei and will next take on third seed Jonatan Christie.

But it was a disappointing day for the rest of the Indian contingent.

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