Thomas Cup 2022: Indian men’s badminton team created history in Thomas Cup. The team has reached the semi-finals of the tournament after 43 years. Earlier in 1979, the team reached the semi-finals for the last time. With this, the medal of the Indian team has also been confirmed. India had earlier won three bronze on reaching the Inter-Zonal final. This is the first time after the change in the qualifying format that the country has assured a medal in the tournament. India beat Malaysia 3-2 in a thrilling quarter-final.
Lakshya Sen got defeated in the first match
World number 8 Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy, World Championship silver medalists Kidambi Srikanth and HS Prannoy won against five-time champions Malaysia. It was a bad start for the Indian team. World Championship bronze winner Lakshya Sen had to face defeat in a match that lasted 46 minutes. Lakshya lost 21-23, 9-21 to world champion Li Jie Jia.
India won in second and third match
In the second match, the pair of Chirag and Satwiksairaj put on a stellar performance to beat world No. 13 Goh Se Phi and Noor Izuddin 21-19, 21-15 to level the 5-match event 1-1. Srikanth then took India’s lead to 2-1 by defeating World No-46 Ng Tje Yong 21-11, 21-17 with his strong game. World ranking 45th-ranked pair of Krishna Prasad Garaga and Vishnuvardhan Goud Panjala then lost to Aaron Chia and Teo Yee.
Prannoy confirmed victory
Due to which the responsibility of taking India to the next round came on Pranay. World ranking 23rd-ranked Prannoy, who was initially trailing 1-6, made a spectacular comeback against 22-year-old Hun Hao Leong to seal India’s medal with a 21-13, 21-8 victory. In the semi-finals, India will face the winning team of the match between South Korea and Denmark.