The Indian men’s team etched their name in the history books as they won the Thomas Cup title for the first time with a dominant 3-0 win over Indonesia in the final in Bangkok on Sunday.
India got the win over Indonesia with World Championships medallist Lakshya Sen, Kidambi Srikanth and the world number 8 doubles duo of Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy producing memorable performances.
A devastated Indonesia, the tournament’s most successful team having previously won it 14 times, could not keep pace with the fire brought by the Indian team — who joyfully rushed the court following Srikanth’s win.
After being off-colour in the knockout stages, Sen delivered when it mattered the most with a come-from-behind 8-21 21-17 21-16 win over world number five Anthony Sinisuka Ginting to had India a 1-0 lead.
“I think this one is for the team, they have been backing me throughout my performances," the 20-year-old Sen said.
“In the closing stages I was really nervous and trying to calm myself with deep breaths."
In the second match of the tie, India’s best doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty, showed nerves of steel as it saved four match points in the second game to eventually outwit Mohammad Ahsan and Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo 18-21 23-21 21-19.
In the second singles, Srikanth then produced a fine performance to outclass Asian Games gold medallist Jonatan Christie 21-15 23-21 in 48 minutes to seal the contest.
Indian men had previously reached the Thomas Cup semis in 1952, 1955, and 1979 while Indonesia are the most successful nation in the history of the tournament, with 14 titles to their name.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Sports minister Anuraj Thakur and the country’s first individual gold medal winner at the Olympics, Abhinav Bindra led the nation in hailing the men’s badminton team for winning a historic maiden Thomas Open title.