[Sports]Thomas Cup: How cricket-crazy India scripted world badminton glory

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https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-61461987

 

India men's badminton team celebrated their historic win at the Thomas Cup.

 

 

India's badminton team on Sunday stunned 14-time champions Indonesia at the men's finals for a historic win at the 2022 Thomas Cup. Sports journalist Susan Ninan reports on the significance of the title for a team that had never made it to the finals in the event's 73-year history.

On Sunday, India showed up to play in the final against Indonesia - the most successful country in the history of the team event - with an appetite for an unlikely win.

The India men's team has little tradition of success at the world championship in this sport. But their Thomas Cup win has all the makings of a defining sporting moment - rarity, incredulity and impact.

Singles player Lakshya Sen hustled from a game down against world number five Anthony Sinisuka Ginting to first put India in the lead at 1-0.

Next, doubles duo Satwik Sairaj Rankireddy-Chirag Shetty came back from four match points down against three-time world champions Mohammad Ahsan and Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo to bring the lead up to 2-0. Rankireddy and Shetty had previously lost to one half of this opposing pair 11 times in a row.

The final act was left to former world number one Kidambi Srikanth, who hadn't lost a match all week. Srikanth played the match of his life in this final - with gif-worthy reflex returns, signature smash-follow up charges and a final cross-court smash that will inhabit highlight reels for posterity.

 

Former world number Kidambi Srikanth played the match of his life in the final.

 

 

The Thomas Cup is named after George Alan Thomas, an English player from the 1900s who proposed the idea of a championship tournament for badminton, borrowing from the World Cup in football and the Davis Cup in tennis.

Since the event began in 1948, India has qualified for only 13 of its 32 editions.

In the tournament's seven-decade-long history, the championship title has changed hands only among five nations - China, Malaysia, Indonesia, Japan and Denmark.

With its win on Sunday, India became only the sixth country ever to break into this elite club.

India entered the 16-nation team event earlier this month with its best men and a bold claim on the title on the players' WhatsApp chat group: "It's coming home".

 

Doubles duo Satwik Sairaj Rankireddy-Chirag Shetty fought to come back from four match points down.

 

 

The Indian players were perhaps the only side to turn up at the tournament in plain Yonex jerseys because the team doesn't have an official sponsor yet. (Maybe this win will inspire change and spark corporate interest.)

The team wasn't exactly an underdog, like Leicester City with its 5000-1 odds in the 2015 English Premier League. But neither were they the easy favourites.

They were in a comfortable place of being able to dream about a win without being complacent.

Through the next several days, India played against nations with greater pedigree - Malaysia and Denmark - and crossed the biggest hurdles - playing against top seeds and defending champions - to make its way to a historic spot in the finals.