Thomas Cup 2022: India created history after 73 years
Anand Mahindra said, ‘Our time has come’
Indian badminton team has created history. It is a proud moment for the people of India. Because India has won the title of Thomas Cup for the first time. In this decisive match, India’s men’s badminton team registered its name in the pages of history by defeating 14-time champion Indonesia 3-0. After which, from the big celebrities of the country to the politicians, congratulated India for the victory.
In such a situation, how could Anand Mahindra, chairman of Mahindra Group, be left behind? Expressing his happiness on this historic victory of India, he also said that today we have defeated Indonesia, our time has come.
Anand Mahindra tweeted after India’s win in the Thomas Cup and wrote, “This is the beginning of an era of Indian dominance in this sport, a game that has always been loved and played in our country. I grew up reading about stalwarts like Thomas Cup and Indonesia’s Rudy Hartono, who dominated it. Today we defeated Indonesia… Our time has come.’
Let us tell you that Anand Mahindra is very active on social media. He has 9.2 million followers on his Twitter account. His generosity also becomes quite viral every day. Then it may be the idli gifted by him to Amma or the desi Formula 1 race car of the milkman appreciated by him. Now he has expressed his happiness on the historic victory of Indian badminton.
India’s men’s badminton team has given proud moments to the Indians by making Thomas Cup in its name. India has won this title for the first time. India’s men’s badminton team registered its name in the pages of history by defeating 14-time champions Indonesia 3-0 in a one-sided match. The Indian team has given its best performance so far in the history of the tournament.
Kidambi Srikanth, SS Prannoy, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty emerged as the heroes of this historic achievement. Fans will remember for a long time the way Lakshya defeated world No. 5 Anthony Sinisuka Ginting 8-21 21-17 21-16. At the same time, the performance of the pair of Satwik and Chirag was also capable. The pair took India’s lead 2-0. In the end, Srikanth defeated Jonathan Christie 21-15 23-21 in a straight match to take India 3-0.
Who is the hero of India’s historic win in Badminton’s Thomas Cup?
On that evening of 1979, when Prakash Padukone defeated Svend Prie of Denmark, there was a feeling of immense pride along with sadness in the Indian camp. In fact, under the captaincy of Prakash Padukone, the Indian team completed the journey to the semi-finals of Badminton’s most prestigious tournament, Thomas Cup.
After defeating strong teams like Malaysia, the Indian team reached the semi-finals where they were defeated by a higher ranked team. It was the proudest day ever for Indian badminton. After 43 years, the Indian team was once again on the verge of making history. The stage was the same Thomas Cup, but this time the Indian team was participating in the final by a notch.
In the semi-file, Team India defeated Denmark itself and the decades-old task was completed. But it was time to win an even bigger trophy and as Kidambi Srikanth’s smash fell to the left of Jonathan Christie, the entire Indian camp rushed to congratulate Srikanth with the lyrics of ‘Bharat Mata Ki Jai’.
The Thomas Cup is also known as the World Team Championship for men’s badminton. This championship has been going on for more than seventy years. India defeated Indonesia, which has been considered the world’s number one badminton team for decades.
You can understand this victory in such a way that the Indian football team has captured the trophy by defeating Brazil 3-0 in the final of the World Cup. Or if India beat Roger Federer-led Switzerland 3-0 in the Davis Cup final.
Or in 1983, Kapil Dev’s team won the World Cup by defeating the West Indies. This victory cannot be considered less than this.
The wave of victory joined the Twitter trend as it passed through the lanes of Hyderabad-Delhi-Mumbai, through the Impact Arena in Bangkok. Clearly, Elon Musk may have found another case study of how stories of human emotion and ruthless survival are trending on Twitter.
From PM Modi to Virat Kohli sent congratulatory messages to the Indian team and announcements of crores of cash prizes also started. This young Indian team got its name written in history by defeating 14-time Thomas Cup champion Indonesia. India became the sixth champion country to win this trophy.
But this journey of 43 years was not easy. Let’s take a look at the champion players who led India to this unprecedented victory.
Lakshya Sen, born in Almora, was the youngest member of the winning Indian team. Throughout the week, he faced high-ranked players and had tough matches. Before the final, he had lost 3 consecutive matches and he had to play the first match of the final as well. In front of him was the Olympic bronze medalist Anthony Ginting. Lakshya lost the first set 21-7. But he did not lose his confidence and defeated Ginting in the next two sets to give India a 1-0 lead.
The former world junior number one goal is an important link in the growing reputation of Indian badminton over the past decade and a half. He won the bronze in the 2021 Senior World Championships and finished second in the All England in the same year.
Reddy-Shetty duo
The pair of Satwik Sairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty deserves the same success as the Bhupathi-Paes pairing of tennis. While Satwik believes in powerful smashes and power-games, Chirag, full of enthusiasm and passion, is capable of covering the entire court and never mind. Have a liver that does not give up. Both these players had earlier won the doubles title in the Indian Open. For some time now, the pair was losing the match even at a lead of 20-18, bringing the match closer. But on the day of the final, they came back after losing the first set. The Indian pair won 18-21, 23-21, 21-19 against the well-known pair of Mohammad Ahsan and Kevin Sanjaya. This victory gave the Indian team an important 2-0 lead.
HS Prannoy
Prannoy of Kerala did not get the turn to play in the final but he played perhaps the most important role in this victory of India. He led India to victories in the quarterfinals and semifinals in close matches. He faced Malaysia’s Leong Jun Hao in the quarter-finals. Prannoy defeated Hao 21-13, 21-8 to give India a 3-2 win in a tough contest.
At the same time, in the semi-finals also India and Denmark were tied at 2-2 and Prannoy had to play the last match. In this match too, Prannoy showed a heartfelt performance. Playing against World No. 13 GameK, Prannoy slipped on the beach court and injured his heel. But he did not give up and after a medical time out, gave India a victory by 13-21, 21-9, 21-12.
For Prannoy, who won gold in the Commonwealth Championship in 2018, these two matches were the two best matches of his life.
Kidambi Srikanth
In the final, India had brought Indonesia to a standstill by taking a 2-0 lead. Kidambi Srikanth was playing the third match. Srikanth showed his class to Jonathan Christie and defeated him 21-15, 23-21 and won the Thomas Cup for India. Among Indian men, the most successful player of the current era, Srikanth has won gold in the Commonwealth and Asian Championships apart from the World Championships.
Even for Arjuna Award winner Srikkanth, winning Thomas Cum is his biggest achievement.
The gurus who showed the way
A good tradition of Indian badminton has been that many successful players have also appeared in the role of coach later. The game which gave them everything, they want to give something back to that game. Be it Prakash Padukone, Vimal Kumar or P Gopichand – he has nurtured many young talents through the Badminton Academy. While Kidambi is from Srikanth, Prannoy and Satwik Gopichand’s academy, Lakshya Sen has been coached at Padukone Academy. Apart from these, both of them have coached dozens of Indian players, due to which India’s bench-strength in badminton has become world-class.
India has been getting individual success in badminton. Nandu Natekar, Prakash Padukone, Gopichand, Saina Nehwal, Jwala Gutta, PV Sindhu and the current team members have raised the Indian tricolor at different times. Indian players are being taken seriously in world competitions, but this is the first time that India has achieved a major success in a team event. The golden era of Indian badminton has begun.
