New Delhi: Thomas Cup 2022: India men's badminton team defeated 14-time champions Indonesia 3-0 in a dominating fashion on Sunday to claim their first ever Thomas Cup title at the Impact Arena in Bangkok, Thailand. India has now become the 6th country to win the prestigious title. Lakshya Sen and Kidambi Srikant defeated defending champion Indonesia's Anthony Sinisuka Ginting and Jonatan Christie, respectively in their singles matches. Meanwhile, 'golden boys' Satwik Sairaj Rankireddy & Chirag Shetty continued their mesmerizing run by winning their doubles clash to help India get the biggest win of the tournament. Thomas Cup 2022 was the first time, India managed to reach final of Thomas and Uber Cup in its 70-plus year history.
Starting the tie, Lakshya Sen made a remarkable comeback to defeat Anthony Ginting to win the first point for India, secure a 1-0 lead. In the second game, pair of Satwik Sairaj Rankireddy & Chirag Shetty beat Mohammad Ahsan and Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo 18-21, 23-21, 21-19. In the deciding set, Kidambi Srikanth crushed Jonatan Christie 21-15, 23-21 in straight games to seal a historic title win for India, without losing a match.
Interestingly, in the last five editions of Thomas Cup, five different teams have won the cup. Ever since China successfully defended the title in 2012, no other nation has been able to repeat this feat. India's journey of making it to the finals was not an easy one. They first defeated five time winner Malaysia in the Quarter-finals, then 2016 title winner Denmark in semi-finals and finally 14-time champions Indonesia in the summit clash.