The Indian men’s badminton team defeated Malaysia 3-2 on Thursday to reach the semi-finals of the Thomas Cup tournament after a long wait of 43 years. India entered their first semi-final since 1979 by defeating 5-time champions Malaysia. Apart from 1979, India also reached the semi-finals in 1952 and 1955. India had lost in the quarterfinals of the previous edition in 2020. India will face the winner of the match between South Korea and Denmark in the semi-finals.
Kidambi Srikanth, H S Prannoy and the pair of Chirag Shetty and Satwik Sairaj Rankireddy won their respective matches to take India to the semi-finals. World number seven Lakshya Sen lost his match.
HS Prannoy won the decider, defeating Leong Jun Hao in straight games as the Indian men’s team ran on the court celebrating the historic achievement. Before the final singles match, when the match was tied at 2-2, Prannoy calmed down and gave a big performance for the team.
Till Thursday, India had never won a medal in the Thomas Cup, while women had won bronze medals in the Uber Cup as recently as 2014 and 2016. The youth team, led by World Championship silver medalist Kidambi Srikanth, bounced back from 0-1 to draw 3-2 to advance to the semi-finals.