Indian men’s badminton team head coach Vimal Kumar on Sunday, May 15 expressed hope that the historic Thomas Cup win will popularize the country’s shuttle sport, just as the 1983 World Cup victory in England did to cricket.
Kidambi Srikanth, Lakshya Sen and the duet duo of Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy scripted one of the most incredible feats in the sporting history of the country. They beat 14-time winners Indonesia 3-0 in a summit showdown in Bangkok. Kumar was over the moon after a remarkable performance.
“I have no words to describe it, we always had expectations but the way the players played, they performed out of the blue. It was really fantastic. We had such a bad record against Indonesia and went 3-0 up Had to win. Unbelievable,” Kumar was quoted as saying.
biggest ever
“In 1983, when India won the Cricket World Cup, the excitement was something else, but cricket was always a very popular sport and I hope with this performance, now badminton can also become so popular.
“It has always been about individual achievements but it was the performance of the team and I hope the popularity of the game will grow from here,” he said.
Kumar said that the win in Thomas Cup is the biggest win in the history of Indian badminton.
“I would consider it the greatest ever. Of course, Prakash and Gopi won the All England, Sindhu’s win, all great achievements, but what we have done as a team, we have not done (earlier) as a team. You can call it a badminton nation. When you win the team championship, I will rate it as the best.”
India, which has never qualified for the last-four stage since 1979, dominated formidable Malaysia and Denmark en route to the summit clash in this edition of the championship.
It goes without saying that less than 48 hours after the resounding victory trounced Denmark, there was wild celebration in the Indian camp.
“I have never seen him so enthusiastic. It is an achievement of pure team spirit which I have not seen in the past. We have always had good players but the priority was on individual players and tournaments. We have a balanced team and it did the trick.
“In every match, what the doubles players have done is amazing. Earlier, we relied on singles, but Satwik and Chirag pulled out all the pressure matches, so a lot of credit was given to Lakhya, Srikanth and Prannoy, because When he did it matters. I am one lucky, lucky coach to be here with him,” Kumar said.
“This is the best achievement of Indian badminton, and I am extremely proud to be a part of this historic team. It is a wonderful group of players.”