The Indian males’s badminton staff made historical past on Thursday after coming into the semi-finals of the Thomas Cup for the primary time in 43 years. India beat Malaysia 3-2 within the quarterfinals and guaranteed themselves of at the least a bronze medal. That is India’s first-ever medal in Thomas Cup for the reason that change within the qualifying format. India, nevertheless, did not have it straightforward and needed to overcome a stiff problem from the Malaysians. In the long run, all of it boiled all the way down to the ultimate singles tie between HS Prannoy and Leong Jun Hao. After an early stutter, Prannoy fully dominated the proceedings to win the match and ship the staff into raptures.
Following Prannoy’s 21-13, 21-8 win, the Indian staff rushed to the courtroom and mobbed their teammate, celebrating the win wildly.
A staff that went with a mission and the historic milestone is crafted by guaranteeing the first ever #ThomasCup2022 medal solely vendictates the choice to pick out the very best shuttlers to representincluding @PRANNOYHSPRI
Kudos to the entire staff@himantabiswa#TUC2022#IndiaontheRise pic.twitter.com/uFwp7TFFl1
— BAI Media (@BAI_Media) Could 12, 2022
Issues did not begin nicely for India within the tie as badminton sensation Lakshya Sen went down 21-23, 9-21 to reigning world champion Lee Zii Jia.
The Indian doubles pair of Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy dished out a superb efficiency to beat world quantity 13 Goh Sze Fei and Nur Izzuddin 21-19, 21-15 to attract the staff stage.
India then took a 2-1 lead with Kidambi Srikanth bringing his wealth of expertise into play and outclassing world quantity 46 NG Tze Yong 21-11, 21-17.
Malaysia, although, had been in no temper to roll over. Aaron Chia and Teo Ee Yi beat India’s younger pairing of Krishna Prasad Garaga and Vishnuvardhan Goud Panjala 21-19, 21-17 to ship their tie into the decider.
It was Prannoy towards a 22-year-old Leong Jun Hao and the Indian definitely did not disappoint.
Promoted
Prannoy fell 1-6 behind within the first recreation, however aside from overcoming that blip, he just about managed the match. The Indian was at a very totally different stage within the second recreation, not giving his opponent even a sniff.
India will tackle Viktor Axelsen-led Denmark within the semis on Friday.
Matters talked about on this article
