It was an established drill after every win—singing and dancing in one of the shuttler’s rooms. On May 15, though, every song was louder and every dance more spirited. The adrenaline was high, and understandably so. The Indian men’s badminton team had just defeated 14-time champions Indonesia to win their maiden Thomas Cup.
It was former world no 1 Kidambi Srikanth who clinched it for India. He beat Jonatan Christie 21-15, 23-21 in the third match, and remained his stoic self even as his ecstatic teammates, coaches and support staff rushed towards him.
“It has still not sunk in,” Srikanth told THE WEEK the following day. “Except for in major super series, the national anthem is not played anywhere. [Ensuring] that our national anthem was played was a moment of pride. Individually, we have so many victories to our name, but as a team we have not done anything and that was on our minds. We wanted it for ourselves and for the country more than anything.”
Srikanth, along with fellow veteran H.S. Prannoy., both 29, had been the architects of the victory. And team bonding was their blueprint. While the team shared a WhatsApp group with the coaches and support staff, they also made one of their own. Called “It’s coming home”, it was a space to motivate each other and keep believing in themselves. The first message on the group was: “How’s the josh?”; it was high then, and remained so hours after the win.
Said former India player and current coach Vimal Kumar: “I do not have any words to describe it. I have never seen them so enthusiastic. It was all team spirit. We have never seen this in the past. These players are incredible.”
The team spirit was best reflected in the decision to ask the youngest of the lot—Priyanshu Rajawat—to receive the cup. Though he was a reserve and did not play in the final, Rajawat was made to feel like a contributor. It was his first major outing. Laskhya Sen, also 20, was making his Thomas Cup debut, too. “This win is very special,” Sen told THE WEEK. “We perform well in every other tournament or championship, but we could never make it in the Thomas Cup. From the first day of the tournament, we were hoping to beat any team and we really did it, even in pressure situations and against strong teams like Indonesia. I am happy I could contribute in the final.”
A dominant feeling within the team was that enough was enough. This team had all the ingredients to be champions—top, in-form singles players and also a top, in-form doubles team—and there was no way it was returning without the cup.
Though Indian badminton has seen many milestones—from Prakash Padukone’s win at the 1980 All England Championships to P.V. Sindhu’s Olympic medals and World Championships gold—the team title had been elusive. Not anymore.
“I would rate this as the biggest-ever achievement,” said Kumar, who has been part of previous Thomas Cup campaigns both as player and coach. “Of course, Prakash and Gopi (Pullela Gopichand) winning All-England, and Sindhu and Saina [Nehwal] winning Olympic and World Championships medals were special. But, as a team, we could never deliver when it mattered. When you call a nation a top badminton nation, all singles and doubles players [have to] perform. That is exactly what happened.”
Badminton Association of India secretary Sanjay Mishra, while announcing a cash award of 01 crore for the team, said, “The title triumph is a culmination of the efforts of the BAI team, coaches and players, and also of a robust selection system put in place for the tournament. The selectors ensured that there was a perfect balance of youth and experience as they picked someone like Prannoy outside the trials while testing the young guns through an extensive trial. Dedicated coaches and support staff were provided to the team for their training and recovery. The team had a mission and worked on a plan to bring the trophy home.
“Indian women’s players have already created milestones, but this all-round performance from the boys will inspire many more players across the country to take up the game,” Mishra said.
Also key to India’s victory was that each player pulled his weight. Even Sen—who lost three of his first four matches and had a bout of food poisoning just before landing in Bangkok—pulled it off in the final. He defeated world no 5 Anthony Ginting in the opening match.
“It was a bad time to fall sick for sure,” said Sen. “I was not able to use my full energy, but everyone supported and motivated me. I could rest for only two days and had to play a match against Germany. But, in the end, I am happy I could win a crucial match in the final.”
Said Srikanth: “As a team, all of them have the ability to win matches. They can step up at any given time and that was the edge we had; we worked it to our strength. The contribution of [doubles coach] Mathias Boe has helped, and the whole team benefited from it.”
In the past, India’s missing link—the team and its opponents would agree—was a strong, consistent doubles pair. In Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty, ranked 8th in the world, India finally has a world-beating pair. That, however, means that there was more pressure on them, especially against the Indonesians, who have depth and strength in their doubles squad. The Indian duo beat Mohammad Ahsan and Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo in the final.
Though only 21, Rankireddy spoke with the experience of a pro. “Before the tie, I talked to the team,” he said. “I told them that, sometimes, it is a matter of the rhythm shifting on one point. Luck had turned our way.” They won 18-21, 23-21, 21-19.
Shetty said they drew on their past experiences against the Indonesian team. “Pressure was there, but more than that we were confident that if we play to our potential and plan, we will be able to pull it off,” he told THE WEEK. “The opponents in the final, they are legends; one is world no 1 and the other is world no 2, and they are also the defending champions. We have lost to Kevin (as a pair) so many times and we were four match points down. To win from there was only possible as we were riding on aggression and that fire kept us going.”
However, he added that it was crucial to not let emotions cloud their judgment. “We had lost to them a number of times, but this time we were sure we will not fall prey to their tactics and let our emotions [take over],” he said. “Our goal was to be aggressive as much as possible and make them uncomfortable and play good badminton.”
Though Boe had joined the team only a few weeks before the competition, his inputs from court side between breaks were important for the pair, especially Shetty. “Our mantra was to keep it simple,” said Shetty. Even though we were four points down in the second game, we were at ease and kept doing what we had trained for. That is what Mathias also told us.”
Interestingly, only three coaches—Vimal Kumar, Mohammed Siyadath Ullah and Boe—travelled with the team to Bangkok. Chief national coach Gopichand has reduced his travel with the national team and is now focusing on training the next crop of players. In November 2021, Indonesian Agus Dwi Santoso had quit as single’s coach; he was not the first coach to leave before their tenure was up. Currently, there are only two foreign coaches—Boe, and women’s singles coach Park Tae-sang, who is on leave till end of May. The process to hire more foreign coaches is on.
Also, to reduce dependency on foreign experts, the BAI has appointed 30 new national coaches. For now, Gopichand and Vimal Kumar, assisted by other coaches, appear to be handling the workload of the Indian team fairly well. The new coaches will be sent wherever the BAI thinks they are needed; Gopichand will look after their assignments.
The head coach is already looking to build on the Thomas Cup win. He now wants to have at least 10 Indians in the top 30 in every category. “If we have that many players,” he said, “they will keep winning regularly.”
Essentially, in a few years, winning the Thomas Cup should not be a surprise.