Team India scripted history by beating 14-time champions Indonesia to win Thomas Cup for the first time in 73 years. The men in blue put forth a stunning 3-0 win over reigning champions Indonesia in the finals played at Bangkok.
The country’s best doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty saved four match points in the second game to eventually outwit Mohammad Ahsan and Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo 18-21 23-21 21-19.
India dished out a stellar performance with World Championships medallist Lakshya Sen, Kidambi Srikanth and world number 8 doubles duo of Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy.
After being offcolour in the knockout stages, Sen delivered when it mattered the most as he gave India a 1-0 lead with a come-from-behind 8-21 21-17 21-16 win over world number five Anthony Sinisuka Ginting in a superb show of temperament and skill.
In the second singles, Srikanth delivered a fine performance to outclass Asian games gold medallist Jonatan Christie 21-15 23-21 in 48 minutes to seal the contest.
The Thomas Cup, sometimes called the World Men’s Team Championships, is an international badminton competition among teams representing member nations of the Badminton World Federation (BWF), the sport’s global governing body. The championships have been conducted every two years since 1982, (amended from being conducted every three years since the first tournament held in 1948–1949).
The final phase of the tournament involves 12 teams competing at venues within the host nation and is played concurrently with the final phase of the world women’s team championships, the Uber Cup (first held in 1956–1957).
Of the 30 Thomas Cup tournaments held since 1948–1949, only six countries have won the title. Indonesia is the most successful team, having won 14 times. China, which did not begin to compete until the 1982, trails Indonesia with 10 titles, while Malaysia has won 5 titles. Japan became the fourth country to win the Thomas Cup in the 2014 final. Denmark became the first European and the fifth nation overall to win the Thomas Cup.
