Winning the Thomas Cup could prove to be an absolute game-changer for Indian badminton, believes coach U Vimal Kumar.
That is saying something.
Over the past decade, badminton has risen as one of the top sports for India in international competition. The sport has seen multiple world number one, World Champions and Olympic medals. And the victory on Sunday is yet another milestone that marks Indian badminton’s upward trajectory.
“I would rate this as the biggest ever. We have had Prakash (Padukone) and (Pullela) Gopichand winning All England titles, Saina (Nehwal) getting to world number 1, (PV) Sindhu winning the World Championship. All great achievements. But as a team to deliver… When you say a great badminton nation, it has to be singles and doubles all together,” said an elated Vimal, who is the coach of the side, after the victory on Sunday.
“This will spur Indian badminton. I expect something like what happened after the 1983 World Cup with cricket to happen. We have great individual players but as a team… I am so happy that I could see this day, this is a dream come true.”
Speaking about the campaign, the Dronacharya awardee was quick to credit the players.
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“All credit to the players. (HS) Prannoy and (Kidambi) Srikanth are so good as senior players, motivating the team. All the others are young players. There is a team spirit I’ve never seen in the past. We knew we had an outside chance, the only thing is they had to play to their potential. Once the players believed, it all clicked. We have a good group coming up, 3-4 years down the line, so we should look to defend the title as well,” he said.
“Earlier we depended on singles players but we have good doubles teams now. Indonesia were the defending champions and have a great record in the competition. Our singles players had a good record against them, our doubles record was poor but they pulled it off. In each match under pressure, we got the win. They delivered when it mattered. I’m just a lucky manager and coach.”
The players did deliver. Lakshya Sen, struggling with food poisoning all week, fought back spectacularly against Indonesia’s Anthony Sinsuka Ginting in the final, the doubles team of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty had ice in their veins, Kidambi Srikanth was assured and led from the front while HS Prannoy, an interesting selection that proved inspiring, showing immeasurable grit to lift India to the final. It was a team effort.
And credit, at least a little, should go to the decision-makers.
“During selection meetings, over the past 5-6 months, Prannoy has stood out as a player who can beat anybody in one match, more than Sai Praneeth. So we took the chance. If you had put him through many trials, he could have been injured. So credit to Prannoy, he delivered,” said Vimal.