Finance
Bangkok (Thailand): The Indian men’s badminton team made history on Friday, reaching their first Thomas Cup final with a 3-2 win over Denmark in a thrilling semifinal.
Indian men had previously reached the semi-finals of the Thomas Cup in 1952, 1955, and 1979. On Sunday, India will face Indonesia in the historic final.
India began their final four match at the Impact Arena, where they were playing their first Thomas Cup semi-finals in 43 years, with Lakshya Sen, ninth in the badminton world rankings, facing off against world No. 1 and Olympic champion Viktor Axelsen.
This was the third meeting between the two shuttlers this season. While the Indian youngster stunned the Danish ace in the German Open semi-finals in March, Axelsen won the All England Open final later that month.
Sen started the match well, but Axelsen quickly took control and cruised to a comfortable first-game victory. In the second game, the Indian shuttler produced some breathtaking moments but was not consistent enough to worry the Dane, who won the first rubber 21-13, 21-13 in 49 minutes.
Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy, India’s top doubles players, brought India back into the tie, defeating Kim Astrup and Mathias Christiansen 21-18, 21-23, 22-20 in an hour and 17-minute marathon match. After a hard-fought first game, the Indians squandered two match points in the second, forcing a decider.
After taking an 8-5 lead early in the third game, Kim Astrup and Mathias Christiansen appeared to be favourites to complete a come-from-behind victory, but the Indian duo, aided by an exceptional patch of play by Chirag, turned it around and brought India level at 1-1.
Kidambi Srikanth then defeated fellow world championships silver medalist Anders Antonsen 21-18, 12-21, 21-14 to give India the lead in the tie for the first time. It was an exciting game, with the Indian coming back from a slow start to win the first game. The Dane responded by attacking Srikanth at the back court and storming back in the second.
Srikanth took the lead in the decider, but Antonsen nearly caught up before the former world number one broke away and won. Denmark tied the match at 2-2 after Anders Skaarup Rasmussen and Frederik Sogaard defeated Vishnu Panjala and Krishna Garaga of India 21-14, 21-13 in the fourth match.
With the final singles tie set to be the decider, HS Prannoy, who had won a thrilling quarterfinal match against Malaysia, took the court against Rasmus Gemke. Despite suffering an ankle injury early in the match, Prannoy produced a remarkable 13-21, 21-9, 21-12 come-from-behind victory to lead India to victory.
Source: OCN
