India scripted a historic win by lifting their Thomas Cup for the first time. The Indian Badminton Team defeated 14-time champions Indonesia in Bangkok, Thailand on 15 May, 2022 denying them their 15th title. It gave the country a surprise and a reason to celebrate the lazy Sunday. The Thomas Cup is an international badminton competition, sometimes also known as the World’s Men’s Team Championships played among the teams representing member nations of the Badminton World Federation, the sport’s global governing body. This tournament was started by a legendary badminton player of England Sir George Alan Thomas, who was inspired by Tennis’s Davis Cup and Football’s World Cup. India first participated in this tournament in 1952 and won the title after a wait of 70+ years. The last time India was close to this title was in 2020 when the team made it to the quarterfinals and the closest in 1979 when they made it to the semi-finals. The teams with the most titles in the championship are Indonesia with 14, China and Malaysia with 10 and 5 titles respectively. On the decisive day, India’s Lakshya Sen gave a perfect start to the tournament and defeated Anthony Ginting, the World No 5 by 8-21, 21-17, 21-16 in a thrilling tie. Despite being outplayed badly in the first round his winning spirit didn’t allow him to give up. “Nothing is impossible,” he said. He added, “The final was a totally different atmosphere altogether. The match wasn’t a really good start for me as I lost the first game…I believe I really turned things around in the 2nd and 3rd game. % “India’s doubles pair Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty defeated Muhammad Ahsan and Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo by 18-21, 23-21, 21-19, the most sensational victory of their career, to give India a 2-0 lead. After assuring their win, Chirag went shirtless trying to absorb the moment while Rankireddy was yelling out to sink in the moment of joy as they defeated Indonesia’s strongest suits. In the third game, Kidambi Srikanth defeated Jonatan Christie 21-15, 23-21 to make it 3-0.”I think it will take a while before we realize what has happened. At the moment, I rate this as one of my biggest wins. Everyone played extremely well. Everyone stepped up when it really mattered,” said Srikanth. “Maybe, much stronger teams had gone to the Thomas Cup before us, but either due to injury or not performing well, India hadn’t done well. This time, we discussed giving our best. We wanted it badly” Prannoy says. HS Prannoy’s selection, based on his form, also proved to be a masterstroke as it helped India a lot. In the knockout events, Prannoy had won two key matches to push India to the final. “No words to describe. Best achievement in Indian badminton history”, says the Indian coach U Vimal Kumar. India has indeed waited for this prestigious title over years. No superlatives would do justice to this tournament. A tale that was waiting to unfold itself for years.
Indian Badminton Team scripts History
