A piece of sporting history was created by the Indian men's badminton team when they thrashed 14-time Thomas Cup champions Indonesia to secure their first-ever title in the premier badminton competition at the Impact Arena in Bangkok, Thailand, on Sunday, May 15. Leading the line was 20-year-old Lakshya Sen, who defeated Anthony Ginting in the opening match of the final to set the platform for a 3-0 drubbing at the hands of doubles pair Satviksairaj Rangireddy and Chirag Shetty, and then Kidambi Srikanth, who sealed the win for India.
Speaking after their triumph, Lakshya reiterated the importance of the victory and hopes that this acts as a motivation for future shuttlers, "It's a very big day (for any badminton player). India has never won the Thomas Cup before. This is a big achievement for India because we have won the World Championship for badminton team events. It is like a World Cup. It will be a motivation for the future generations."
Having begun the competition as major underdogs, India defeated five-time champions Malaysia, and former champions Denmark on the way to the final. However, Lakshya said the whole team has belief in themselves and this propelled the team forward, "With the team that we could, we felt from the beginning that we could beat any team. Our singles and doubles lineups were very strong. Right from the group stages to the quarterfinals, and semifinals, we believed that we can beat any team. All the matches were close affairs, especially the knockouts."
"All the players performed well during the semifinals and the quarterfinals. All the matches were close, and there was a little luck involved as well," he added.
After the match, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi joined in the adulations, while sports minister Anurag Thakur announced a Rs 1 crore prize for the entire team, "The Prime Minister saw the full match. He spoke to us about it. He asked us 'when did you think that you can win this tournament,' because before this no one had won this tournament from India. He spoke for 10-15 minutes so it was very motivating."
