Thomas cut: Indian men’s badminton team bags first-ever gold

Express News Service

CHENNAI:  The Impact Arena in Bangkok has played host to some of the biggest personalities and bands in the world of music. Think Roger Waters, Coldplay, Beyonce, BTS and Britney Spears. On Sunday, it was jiving, heaving and grooving to the humble dhol. While the Indian fans in the stands were cranking up the noise in the arena, the Indian players tasked with rewriting history went about it in a calm, unhurried manner. 

When the weight of 73-years of history finally lifted at about 3.15 PM IST on Sunday, it had a certain authority to it. Kidambi Srikanth, who had been invincible all week, stretched his record to 6-0. By the time he saw off Indonesia’s Jonatan Christie in str­a­ight games and threw his racquet on the green turf before being enveloped by his onrushing teammates, the story had already started to sink in. “India are Thomas Cup champions for the first time ever”.  

Of course, like every story, th­e­r­e are multiple protagonists who made this dream a reality. Laksh­ya Sen who took down Olympic bro­nze medallist Anthony Ginting on the first match on Sunday. HS Prannoy, a controversial direct selection that set the tongues wagging even before the team had bo­o­ked their flight to the Thai capit­a­l, keeping his cool on multiple occ­asions. Srikanth himself br­i­n­g­ing his zen-like focus ga­m­e after ga­me, match after match while qu­ietly guiding the side’s many young players. The doubles st­ars, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Ch­i­rag Shetty, who kept chipping aw­ay even when it looked the effort wasn’t translating into re­sults.  

The biggest factor, though, was the side’s mentality. Heads never dropped, shoulders never drooped and the belief never wavered as all of them embraced all of sport’s only true currency. Giving up was not an option. In modern sporting parlance, it’s known as ‘mamba me­ntality’ and that’s what this team embraced. The proof of this is in the pudding. This side was 21 points away from not qualifying for the final. In the end, though, th­is side became only the second in the meet’s history to win the ev­ent after failing to top the group ph­ase. Mentality monsters from sta­­rt to finish in the backdrop of dho­ls.

Behind the scenes of champions

Bonding exercise

The lead players were very secure about their place in the side. Coach U Vimal Kumar spoke about this in the post-match conference and it was in evidence when the side’s youngest player, Priyanshu Rajawat, received the Thomas Cup on the podium. 

Triumph of the collective

When HS Prannoy went down clutching his ankle in the semifinal, it looked like panic stations. However, he fought through the pain barrier for the greater good. If anything defines this team, it’s this. It’s a bunch of individuals who make this team greater than the sum of their parts.

The depth
This time last year, Lakshya was No 23 in the world. A fantastic last year, including winning a bronze at the Worlds, ha s helped him become the lead player. This gave both Prannoy and Srikanth winnable matches coming in as the 2nd and 3rd singles players. End result? They returned a record of 11-0. 

Road to gold

Group stage
bt Germany 5-0 
bt Canada 5-0 
lost to Chinese Taipei 2-3

Knockouts
Quarterfinals
bt Malaysia 3-2 
Semifinals
bt Denmark 3-2 
Final
bt Indonesia 3-0

• Lakshya Sen bt Anthony Ginting 8-21, 21-17, 21-16. 
• Satwiksairaj Rankireddy/ Chirag Shetty bt Mohammad Ahsan/ Kevin Sanjaya 18-21, 23-21, 21-19.
• Kidambi Srikanth bt Jonatan Christie 21-15, 23-21.