22/05/2022
It has been a week since India’s historic Thomas Cup win, we look back at the moments from the tournament.
India defeated the 14-time champions Indonesia in the final to win their maiden gold medal in the tournament’s 73-year-long history.
India followed Chinese Taipei into the quarterfinals after whitewashing their group-mates Canada and Germany 5-0. The 2-3 defeat against Chinese Taipei meant India faced the formidable powerhouse Malaysia in the last 8.
A hard-fought 3-2 win against the 5-time champions set up a semifinal clash against Denmark who had last won this tournament in 2016. Another stunning display against the in-form Denmark, a team that had three men ranked 1, 3, and 13 in the world, this tie also went down to its last match in which HS Prannoy made a comeback after losing the first set. This 3-2 win led India to its first-ever Thomas Cup final. India had reached semi-finals of the Thomas Cup on only three occasions- 1952, 1955 and 1979.
Indonesia was an obvious favorite, having beaten all its Asian rivals — Singapore (4-1), Thailand (4-1), Korea (3-2), a depleted China (3-0), and Japan (3-2), in that order. India shocked Indonesia by the biggest margin, with Lakshya’s stunner against World No. 5 and Tokyo Olympics bronze medallist Anthony Ginting setting the pace. The doubles pairing of Satwik and Chirag saved 4 match points in the second set to triumph over the Indonesian pair of Ahsan-Sukamuljo. Srikanth also an underdog, stopped the World No. 8 Jonathan Christie, by snatching the match in 2 sets, making it 3-0 for India.
