No doubting Thomas
Written off India make final, history
Bangkok, May 13: H. S. Prannoy produced a lionhearted effort in the decisive fifth match as the Indian men’s badminton team scripted history by reaching the title clash of the Thomas Cup Finals for the first time ever with a 32 victory in an edge-of-theseat semifinal, here.
Indian team, which never went past the semifinals after 1979, showed tremendous fighting spirit as it came from a match down to outwit 2016 champions Denmark.
While world championships silver medallist Kidambi Srikanth and world number 8 doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty kept India in the hunt, it was once again left to Prannoy to take the team home when the tie was locked 2-2.
Up against against world number 13 Rasmus Gemke, Prannoy suffered an ankle injury after slipping on the front court while going for a return but the Indian continued after taking a medical timeout.
He looked in pain and his on-court movement also looked restricted but despite all odds, he produced a sensational performance to come up trumps 13-21, 21-9, 21-12 to etch India’s name in the history books.
It was a creditable performance from the Indian team, which on Thursday had snapped a 43-year long wait by reaching the semifinals with a 3-2 win over five-time champions Malaysia, a feat last achieved in 1979.
It was always going to be an uphill task for India to tame the formidable
Denmark, which had become the first European country in history to secure the title in 2016.
A lot rode on world championship bronze medallist Lakshya Sen, given his recent win over Viktor Axelsen at the German Open Super 300 but he couldn’t replicate his performance as the world number one scripted a comfortable 21-13, 2113 win to hand Denmark a
1-0 lead.
Denmark decided to split their world number 9 pair of Kim Astrup and Anders Skaarup Ras-mussen into two halves with Astrup partnering Mathias Christiansen in the first doubles.
However, Rankireddy and Shetty dished out a gritty performance, holding their nerves in the final stages to beat Astrup and Christiansen 21-18, 2123, 22-20 to bring India back in the contest.
The Indian pair faced five match points — two in the second game and three in third game — before converting one.
With the tie locked 1-1, world No. 11 Srikanth and world No. 3 Anders Antonsen engaged in a battle of supremacy in the second singles with the former coming out on top with a gritty 21-18, 12-21,
21-15 result to give India a
2-1 lead.
India’s second doubles combination of Krishna Prasad Garaga and Vishnuvardhan Goud Panjala, however, were no match for Anders Skaarup Rasmussen and Frederik Sogaard, losing 14-21, 13-21 as the tie was tantalisingly poised at 2-2 after the fourth match.
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