Who won the Thomas Cup when it was previously held?
The 33rd edition of the Thomas Cup begins on Saturday, April 27, in Chengdu, China. The premier men's team competition in badminton, Thomas Cup is a biennial affair.
The previous edition of the tournament was held in Bangkok, Thailand, from May 8-15, 2022. It was an unforgettable event for the Indian fans, as their team recorded its first-ever win in the tournament's 73-year history.
The Indian team that participated in the 32nd edition of the Thomas Cup that featured 10 players. This included four singles players and three doubles pairs.
The singles players were Lakshya Sen, Kidambi Srikanth, HS Prannoy, and Priyanshu Rajawat.
The three doubles pairs in the Indian squad consisted of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy-Chirag Shetty, Arjun MR-Dhruv Kapila, and Krishna Prasad Garaga-Vishnuvardhan Goud Panjala.
In the group stage, the Indian team was placed in Group C, alongside Chinese Taipei, Germany, and Canada.
As expected, the two non-Asian sides posed no trouble for India, but they lost to the Taipei team in their Group C fixtures. Still, as the second placed team in the standings, they progressed to the next round - quarter-finals.
The first knockout stage saw India take on Malaysia. In the opening encounter, Lakshya Sen lost to Lee Zii Jia. However, India won the next two matches. First, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty won their doubles contest, then, Kidambi Srikanth won his singles match.
The Krishna Prasad Garaga-Vishnuvardhan Goud Panjala pair lost their doubles match to leave the tie level at 2-2. But HS Prannoy ensured India's progress to the semifinals with his win in the last match.
In the semis, the Indian men were up against Denmark. Once again, Lakshya Sen was given the task of facing the toughest opponent - Olympic champion Viktor Axelsen. Once again, he came up short, losing in straight games to the big Dane.
Rankireddy and Shetty then fought hard against the prominent pair of Kim Astrup and Mathias Christiansen in a three-game match to bring India level in the tie.
Srikanth also had a three-game contest, against Anders Antonsen, which he won. The script in this tie followed that of India's quarterfinal as the Garaga-Panajal pair lost to leave Prannoy with a do-or-die match.
Against Rasmus Gemke, the shuttler from Kerala came up trumps, coming back from a game down to win the deciding match.
India team faced defending champs Indonesia in the final
So, India stood on the cusp of making history, as they faced Indonesia in the final of the 2022 Thomas Cup.
The Indonesians were the defending champions and had a very strong squad. They had two leading singles players in Antony Sinisuka Ginting and Jonatan Christie. Their two doubles pairs were also formidable - Fajar Alfian-Muhammad Rian Ardianto and Mohammad Ahsan-Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo.
Yet, what transpired was an utterly dominant performance from India. Up against Ginting, Lakshya Sen was determined to not end up on the losing side this time. He won a three-game contest in over an hour.
Then, it was over to Rankireddy and Shetty to overcome the pair of Ahsan and Sukamuljo. They did so with aplomb, in a challenging three-game fight.
Now, Srikanth took the court against Christie. He didn't let matters get complicated and saw his nation through to its maiden triumph.
This time around, Indian fans would be hoping for an encore. Things haven't been going well for the Indian shuttlers in recent times. A good effort in Chengdu would lift up the spirits of both players and fans ahead of the Paris 2024 Olympics.