The Thomas Cup triumph by the Indian men's team in Bangkok on Sunday has however meant that the floor is being wiped with titles won in other sports - including, would you believe it, the big C. But honestly, if our badminton people won't go utterly OTT now, then when will they?
The Thomas Cup is the holy grail of men's team badminton, a reflection of a country's depth and strength in the sport. At the end of a week that went by in a haze of dreaming, disbelief, and euphoria in repetitive cycles, India became only the sixth country to own the Thomas Cup title in the tournament's 73-year history. Over the past decades, the old order - Indonesia, China, Malaysia, Denmark, and Japan - did not cede ground so easily, even when India fielded exceptional, high-quality players, a pantheon of its past greats.
That's is why we are in delirious debate on which possible pedestal this victory must be placed in the history of Indian sport. But should there in fact be an edging out of the gold-medallist Olympic hockey teams? Or even 1983? Those were Indian champions of their own time and place, of an India and of sport that belonged to another vintage. India's 2022 Thomas Cuppers are champions of our sport's tomorrow. This achievement will reverberate deep and long in the future. It has set a benchmark for a new millennium that must now always be aspired in the generation that will undoubtedly be sparked by it.
With this win, these driven, cheeky, and fearless young men have also paid tribute to the giants on whose shoulders they stand. As bearers of the light that passed from Nandu Natekar and Dinesh Khanna on to Padukone, Syed Modi, and Gopichand, what the 2022 Thomas Cuppers – Kidambi Srikanth, HS Prannoy, Lakshya Sen, Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy - have done is set it on a high beam.
This story is from the May 17, 2022 edition of Hindustan Times.
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This story is from the May 17, 2022 edition of Hindustan Times.
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