New Delhi: U. Vimal Kumar, former international and one of the coaches with the victorious Indian men’s team in the Thomas Cup in Bangkok on Sunday called the historic triumph as Indian badminton’s biggest-ever achievement.
The Indian men’s badminton team on Sunday scripted history by lifting their maiden Thomas Cup title after registering a resounding 3-0 win over defending champions Indonesia in the final.
“I would rate this as the biggest ever achievement. Of course, Prakash, Gopi winning All England, Sindhu and Saina winning medals in Olympics and World championships were special. But, as a team, we could never deliver when it mattered. When you call a nation a top badminton nation, all singles and doubles players perform. That is exactly what happened,” said Vimal in a virtual press conference after the win.
Victories from Lakshya Sen, the doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy-Chirag Shetty, and former World No 1 Kidambi Srikanth guided India to the coveted Thomas Cup trophy, the most prestigious title in men’s team badminton.
The former India star was delighted with the team’s performance and hailed players by calling them incredible.
“I don’t have any words to describe it. I have never seen them so enthusiastic. It was complete team spirit. We have never seen this in the past. These players are incredible,” Vimal said.
“Earlier we used to depend on singles players but now we have doubles players and they pulled off some incredible wins. Equally, credit should be given to Lakshya Sen, Srikanth and Prannoy. It is just fantastic,” he added.
Vimal also hoped the historic success would do the same to badminton in India what the 1983 World Cup win did to cricket.
“In 1983, when India won the cricket World Cup, the euphoria was something else but cricket was always a very popular sport and I hope with this performance, badminton can also become as popular,” the coach said.
(IANS)
