In Indian sports, yesterday was one more red-letter day, when the Indian Men’s Badminton Team won the Thomas Cup by defeating 14-time champion Indonesia. India was considered unfancied and an underdog against Indonesia. There were very few Badminton experts who were ready to give India a winning chance against Indonesia. But Team India stunned all the experts and the Badminton world by winning with a score reading 3-0 in favour of India.
Before yesterday many players brought laurels to the country by winning prestigious tournaments, but it is for the first time team has performed and won the Thomas Cup, which is equivalent to World Badminton Championship. Before yesterday the major milestone in Badminton were:
1980-Prakash Padukone wins All England Championships
1983-Praksh Padukone wins bronze at the World Championship (individual)
2001- P Gopichand wins All England Championship
2010- Saina Nehwal wins Commonwealth women’s singles gold, Jwala Gutta-Ashwini Ponnapa wins women’s doubles gold and Team India wins gold.
2011- Jwala-Ashwini bag women’s doubles bronze at World Championship.
2102- Saina Nehwal wins women’s singles bronze medal at Olympics.
2013 & 2014 PV Sindhu wins singles bronze at World Championship.
2104- India Win Uber Cup bronze( Thomas Cup is for men & Uber Cup is for women)
2015- Saina wins silver at World Championships. Become number 1.
2016- Sindhu wins silver at Olympics. India wins bronze in Uber Cup.
2017- Sindhu wins Worlds silver, and repeats the feat next year. Saina wins bronze at the worlds. Srikanth wins four super series titles.
2018 Srikanth becomes world number 1.
2019- Sindhu becomes the World champion.
2020- Sindhu wins bronze at Olympics.
And in 2022 Indian Men’s team is Thomas Cup Champion.
Not lets us see team India’s progress in Thomas Cup:
In the league stage, India beat Germany 5-0, beat Canada 5-0, and lost to Chinese Taipei 3-2.
In the quarter-final, India beat Malaysia 3-2. Malaysia (also as Malaya) has won the title 5 times and played the final a total of 14 times.
In the Semi-final beat Denmark 3-2. Denmark is a 2016 winner and has been finalist eight other times.
Chirag Shetty, Satwisairaj Rankireddy, Kidambi Srikanth, Lakshya Sen, and HS Prannoy were the key members of the Indian team.
In the first match, Lakshya Sen shrugged off a weak start and lost the first game at 7-21, but he rallied from a game down to beat Anthony Ginting in 3 sets, by winning 2nd game at 21-13 and 3rd at 21-16, on the back of confidence in his defence that ballooned into attacking swagger to the kills.
In the 2nd match, India’s doubles team of Satwik and Chirag pulled out the most audacious win of the tie, beating hallowed Mohd Ahsan-Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo 18-21, 23-21, 21-19. In the 2nd game, Satwik and Chirag saved 4 match points and won the game at 23-21. Both the players kept their nerve in the final game and played fearless Badminton, backing their incredible talent, the young Indians gave the Indian team a 2-0 lead.
Nothing oozes more class than Kidambi Srikanth playing the match of his lifetime. This time he stamped his sheer class against Jonatan Christie, winning 21-15, 23-21. There was resistance by Jonatan in the 2nd game, but Srikanth kept his cool, and reach the match point. A smash, a crosscourt smash, a dipping, crosscourt, jump smash from Srikanth as he leapt in the air and time stopped, brought India its unforgettable Thomas Cup triumph.
India Thomas Cup Champs, who would have thought this? I think players and coaches must have plenty of confidence to win the Thomas Cup.
BRAVO TEAM INDIA, CONGRATULATIONS
Anil Malik
Mumbai, India
16th May 2022
Prakash Mahadalkar
Winning Thomas cup is the greatest achievement in the world of Badminton.
Team India played like champions defeating stalwards Malaysia,
Denmark and Indonesia on the way.
Hope they win it for few more times !!