News from Bangkok was good. The Thomas cup team was in a good space- Relaxed and looking forward to winning the cup for India.
Former chief coach and current selector Vimal Kumar who has been present at the tournament from day one said, ” The boys are all charged up. The injury scare of a slight ankle twist for HS Prannoy is over. He is fine and is hungry for victory. And Lakshya is also over his food poisoning. He desperately wants to get the first point for India. The first singles is very crucial and he is aware of this.”
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The squad is hungry for victory. Prannoy told me yesterday,” we have come so far. we will go all out in finals. There is no option but to win, do our best. That’s it”.
Then he said something that will make us proud as Indians. “We are not playing this for cash prize etc. We are playing for India.”
The draw is in favour of India. The team can make it 3-2 for sure. Indonesian thinktank had split up their first doubles for tactical reasons. Mohd Ahsan will partner Sukamuljo Sanjaya kevin. Here there may be a chance for our first doubles. And in third singles they are fielding Rhustovito the 24th ranked in the world.
Legendary Prakash Padukone felt that Lakshya Sen will overcome his weakness to slight food poisoning and will play his Best. “This is the first time ever that we have fielded such a balanced team. Also, we are lucky that all the top players were available at the same time. And having three top-grade singles in the team is a boon. Because if one does not play well the other two can make up for his loss.”
“And in Saisatwik Chirag Shetty we have an outstanding doubles pair who have been performing really well. Prannoy and Shrikant have been fantastic. It is not often that you get a chance, an opportunity like this. The team must grab it with both hands. And I have always said that individual victories in prize money tournaments are fine but when you win the Thomas cup your country has arrived as a superpower. So far so good. I really hope and wish that India wins the cup.”
Lakshya Sen started the proceedings against Anthony Ginting in the first singles. The two had only played once before and Lakshya had won that German open quarterfinals this year in a one-sided match 21-7/21-9.
The Indonesian has had a high world rank of 3 and got a bronze at the Olympics. This was his 4th Thomas cup. In this tournament, Ginting had lost three matches, but in the semifinals against japan, he had defeated Kento Mamota. In comparison, Lakshya had also lost three matches. He lost to Chou Tuen Chen of Chinese Taipei and to Lee Zhi Jia of Malaysia and of course to Viktor Axelson of Denmark.
But starting off from the side with drift behind him, the Indian ace was not able to control the high strokes and was constantly behind with the result that he was down 7-11 at the midway point. He lost tamely the first game at 8-21.
But thereafter the lad from Almora got into his gear and played like a man possessed. He was all over the court retrieving impossible-looking smashes and marshalling the net. His smashes also got an extra bite, as the scorchers sped like a bullet puncturing Gintings court. A good mix of low serves in different directions foxed Genting and his returns were off the mark.
Lakshya was also tight in the smashes. Winning a 46 stroke rally at 7-3 gave him confidence and he was simply unplayable after that. He led 10-5 and 12-9 before Ginting narrowed the lead to 11-12 but thereafter Lakshya upped the speed and moved on to 14-11 and galloped to win the game 21-17.
The decider saw Lakshya play some of the best badminton of his young career. A fantastic mix of smashes at different angles saw him lead 7-4 and 13-10. A fighting Genting equalised at 13 but that was as far he could go. I think barring his match against Viktor Axelson in the semifinal of the German Open earlier this year, this was the best badminton Lakshya has played.
The dribbles and counters were breathtaking and so was his defence. He won most of the long rallies and slowly but surely moved on to win 21-16, thereby giving India the first point. All his earlier losses were forgotten. He came good when India needed him.
Prakash Padukone, who was the first to read his talent when Lakshya approached the famous Padukone academy in Banglore for coaching as a shy 9-year-old, said “I think he really played well. I was a bit apprehensive about his form. He had peaked at the German and All England open. It is not easy to peak again so fast. But he proved me wrong. He was unplayable today. I saw the potential in him on the very first day he came to my academy and I am happy that he provided India with the first point in the Thomas cup finals. ”
In a way, the Indonesians gifted the Thomas cup to India.
For no apparent reason, they fielded a pair which does not play together. It t is important you combine well with your partner and for that, you must play regularly with your partner. So why Mohd Ahsan played with Kevin Sanjaya and not Marcus Gideon is a mystery.
Gideon and Sanjaya have defeated the Indian pair in each of the 11 encounters between them. The chance given by Indonesia was grabbed by Chirag Shetty and Saisatwik Rankareddy who took the bull by the horns by playing fluent attacking badminton and won the crucial first doubles for India.
In fact, they played the Indonesian style of game. Full of body line drive shots and quick forays to the net. India won this marathon match 18-21/23-21/21-19.
They shrugged off the first game defeat, to settle down.
In doubles, the side that controls the net rules the roost so to say. Chirag excelled here with mind-boggling interceptions. If he was dynamite near the net then partner Saisatwik was mesmerizing in attack as he thumped the shuttle down with gusto. If Saisatwik was fiery, Chirag was one who played with great control and gave openings after openings to his partner.
The Indians saved 4 match points in the second game as Mohd Ahsan got some brilliant points with his interceptions but then India was not to be denied today.
We won the second game 23-21. In the closely fought decider neck to neck battle ensued for domination. India changed sides at 11-9 but the Indonesian pair came roaring back to lead 16-13. We caught up again equalising at 17-17. Thereafter it was smooth sailing as Saisatwik and Chirag Shetty brought India to the cusp of creating victory unparalleled. We won 21-19. India now led 2-0 against the mighty Indonesians who were playing for their 15th victory.
We needed one more point to seal the tie 3-0. And the country could take a breather. With his Buddha-like demeanour, in walked Shrikant Kidambi in his cool, calm and collected way to take India beyond glory. He was the right person to carry the baton to the podium. He has had such a great time in Bangkok’s Impact stadium. One of the only players who has won all his matches here, Srikanth was his usual, casual self who does not show any emotions, and keeps them bottled inside only to ensure that the volcano erupted after he got the last point.
Today was no exception. Shrikant Kidambi sealed the fate of the 14 times champions Indonesia; also the defending champions.
Many do not know that Shrikant Kidambi cheated death, maybe only to win the Thomas Cup for the country. A few years back he was stuck in the ICU under a coma, attacked by meningitis of the brain. There seemed to be no hope for him but he fought back like a champion, came out and started training again to become a world championship silver medalist, world number 1 and now Thomas cup gold medal winner.
He faced Jonathan Christie, gold medal winner of Asian games 2018 and runner up at the Asian championship in Manila last month. He is 24 years old and leads Kidambi 5-4 in head to head.
In a measured and controlled game, the Indian ace took charge from the beginning, taking early leads of 3-0/7-4/14-10 and did not allow Christie to take the lead at any time in the first game.
The body attack on Christie paid rich dividends ensuring he won the opening game 21-5.
One can attribute many adjectives to the man. Superb, superlative, and stunning all apply. In the second game, a fighting Christie did try to come back and with some neat strokes did reach a 16-13 lead. But slowing the game down Kidambi roared back into reckoning by equalising and then leading 18-16.
There was a moment which brought hiccups to all watching when Christie using all his guile and experience almost came to snatching this game and actually led 20-19. But with some really good deceptive net pushes Shrikant finally wrapped up the game and match. It was 3-0 to India.
In my opinion, this victory stands on par with the 1983 cricket World Cup victory.
Prakash Padukone said that we were making steady progress in the game with the arrival of Saina Nehwal.
“I never thought we will win the Thomas cup so fast. I thought it was way down another 8-10 years. And the way the boys played was stunning. I am very very happy with the victory. Not reaching finals anytime before and then defeating Malaysia, Denmark and Indonesia in a row is something extraordinary. I salute this team and I am sure that India has finally arrived on the world stage. ”
And who according to him is the man of the series for India? The legend picked up the doubles pair.
“I think they were outstanding in this tournament. Never ever have we had a combination this strong. They won a crucial match today. So with due respect to others, my pick for player of the tournament has to be Chirag and Saisatwik”.
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