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Kidambi Srikanth on Thomas Cup win: The feeling hasn’t sunk in yet
Badminton ace Kidambi Srikanth has shown his prowess among the 10-man team that recently won the Thomas Cup for the first time in the tournament’s 74-year-long history. He says, “The feeling hasn’t sunk in yet.” The Padma Shri recipient, along with HS Prannoy, was the senior-most member of the team that achieved unprecedented glory in Bangkok (Thailand) on Sunday. The 29-year-old credits the win to team effort and says, “We told each other to be positive. We went out for team dinners and practised together. We only had threefour days to practise at the academy. It’s definitely a team victory.”
Srikanth, who is still in Thailand for another tournament, is missing India and ghar ka khana: “I don’t think I can forget the match or the tournament [ever]. When I return to India, I will eat food made by my mum and also some biryani.”
Mention how, in an interview, coach and former badminton player Pullela Gopichand called this win bigger than the 1983 Cricket World Cup triumph and the skipper says, “We know how big the World Cup is for cricket and the Thomas Cup is for badminton. This win is one of the biggest in the history of badminton for India.”
The winning team also received a congratulatory call from
Prime Minister Narendra Modi after the match. “I didn’t expect the call.
It made all of us really happy. To have the PM call and congratulate you gives a lot of happiness.
He told us that he followed our progress,”
Srikanth ends.
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