Researched by: Sara Varghese & Sheya Kurian

Umm, I have no clue about Indian badminton…

Neither do most of us, so here’s a quick recap of our history in a sport that was actually invented in India.

Origin story: The exact origin is unknown, but there are 2000-year old references in ancient manuscripts—in India, Greece and China—to games involving shuttlecocks and rackets. The modern sport started in India when British officers were introduced to the local version of the game in the 1860s. It was first called Poonah—after the town they were stationed in. They also framed the first informal set of badminton rules in 1867. Here’s an illustration of how the game was played by the burra sahibs and memsahibs:

Birth of ‘badminton’: The colonists took the sport back with them to England—where it caught the fancy of the Duke of Beaufort. In 1873, he introduced it to his guests—and named it after his estate Badminton House. The first dedicated club—the Bath Badminton Club—was formed in 1877—which also framed the modern rules that still govern the game today. 

An international sport: The Badminton Association of India (BAI) was established in 1899—six years after the Badminton Association of England (BAE). A global body was instituted in 1934—and India joined it in 1936. The game became a part of the Summer Olympics in 1992 at Barcelona. Deepankar Bhattacharya and U Vimal Kumar were the first Indian male shuttlers at the event—while Madhumita Bisht was the sole woman.

The first Indian superstar: India did not make its mark at the international level until the rise of Prakash Padukone—who bagged India’s first ever gold medal at the 1978 Commonwealth Games. He went on to win the prestigious All England Open Badminton Championships in 1980—and was ranked #1 in the world at his peak. 

Pullela Gopichand: was Padukone’s star pupil who equaled his mentor’s feat by winning the All England title in 2001. But he did not get the attention that he deserved. According to Times of India, his mother Subbaravamma used to call TV channels and newspapers to tell them her son’s match scores. But his greatest contribution was the creation of the Pullela Gopichand Academy—which has been an incubator for the biggest names in the sport—including Saina Nehwal, PV Sindhu and Kidambi Srikanth. FYI: He is also the coach for the Indian team to this day. Here’s a glimpse of the training facilities in Hyderabad:

Saina Nehwal: After Gopichand, the Indian men mostly receded into the background—overshadowed by the talent of Nehwal who won the gold at the Commonwealth Games in 2010. In 2012, she won the bronze and became India’s first-ever Olympic medallist in badminton in London. She was also the first Indian woman to be ranked #1—a feat she achieved in 2015.

PV Sindhu: She is currently the reigning women’s world champion. Sindhu’s formidable track record includes a silver at the Rio Olympics in 2016—and a gold at the BWF  World Championships. She too is a Gopichand prodigy. 

Return of the men: In recent years, Indian men have staged a comeback with the rise of Kidambi Srikanth and Lakshya Sen. And the astonishing win at the Thomas Cup has also highlighted the depth of talent in the men’s sport right now—unlike the women’s side which has mostly been dominated by solo stars.

Ok, so this Thomas Cup is a big deal?

The backstory: The prestigious tournament is the equivalent of the World Men’s Team Championship—while the Uber cup is the same for women. It is named after Sir George Thomas—legendary founder of the International Badminton Federation (now BWF)—who always wanted the sport to have a tournament equivalent to tennis’ Davis Cup. The first edition was played in 1948-49—and was won by Malaya (now Malaysia).

The past champions: The tournament’s history has been dominated by two countries. Indonesia has won the most number of titles: 15. They were pushed aside in the middle by China which scored five straight titles from 2004 to 2012. Denmark became the only non-Asian country to bag the gold in 2016. But in recent years, the Indonesians have once again dominated the global stage—and won the last tournament by defeating China 3-0.

India’s track record: The men's team has never won a medal in the Thomas Cup—and have only made it to the semi-finals in 1952, 1955 and 1979. The women’s team reached the semifinal twice in the Uber Cup far more recently—in 2014 and 2016. And the men were knocked out in the quarter finals in 2021. So a gold medal for the men’s team this year is all the more impressive. 

Ok, tell me about this big victory…

First, the format: Sixteen teams compete in the Thomas and Uber Cups, respectively. They first play in four groups of four teams—and then move onto the quarter finals. Each faceoff includes three singles matches and two doubles. So this is a team tournament—which requires everyone to do their best. One or two stars won’t win the day.

The Indian squad: was as follows: ​​

• Singles: Lakshya Sen, Kidambi Srikanth, HS Prannoy, Priyanshu Rajawat. 
• Doubles: Satwiksairaj Rankireddy, Chirag Shetty, M R Arjun, Dhruv Kapila, Krishna Prasad Garaga, Vishnuvardhan Goud Panjala

The top ranked among them are Lakshya Sen (#9) and Kidambi Srikanth (#11) in singles—and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty who are also #9 in doubles. So no one expected the Indian team to win it all—but most were optimistic we would put on a solid showing. 

The path to victory: We were seeded fifth and our group included Germany, Canada and Taiwan. So yeah, we lucked out on the draw. India lost to Taiwan (2-3), and beat the other two comfortably (5-0). We then went on to defeat Malaysia in the quarter-finals (3-2) and Denmark in the semi-finals (3-2). The most amazing bit was yet to come—when we defeated the defending world champions Indonesia in the final. 

Smells like team spirit: After the win against Malaysia in the quarter finals, HS Prannoy explained why the team was beating all expectations: 

“There’s a lot of reasons (for that) but this time, I think it was one of the best Indian teams to come into Thomas Cup. Look at the team, everybody is stepping up and everybody wants to prove a point. I think that’s very important because this is for the next generation to come from India. We all want them to see that we are right up there in the world and especially in a team event, you always write off India but this time, we said that we are just going to fight until the end, no matter what.”

That can-do spirit was echoed by one of the coaches, Vimal Kumar—who said on the eve of the finals:

“I find it amusing that people are surprised by our performance. I was confident that we could go the distance this time. This team has gelled well and stayed together as a fighting unit. There is a lot of camaraderie between the players and I haven’t seen such a close-knit squad in my coaching career…The players are self-motivated and in a match like tomorrow’s (Sunday), we will need loads of that.”

And it is visible in this clip of the team celebrating the moment Prannoy defeated Rasmus Gemke—and sealed the semi-final win:

Point to note: In comparison, the women’s side was fairly weak and inexperienced with the exception of stars like Sindhu. Not helping: The absence of Nehwal—who withdrew from the selection trials citing fitness issues.

The finals: The men’s must-win attitude came shining through in the finals on Sunday. Here’s how it unfolded:

• Lakshya Sen first took on world’s #5 Anthony Sinisuka Ginting—and lost the first game 8-21. But he staged an amazing comeback to finally prevail 21-17 and 21-16 in the next two.
• Doubles duo Rankireddy and Shetty saved four match points in the second game—to beat Mohammad Ahsan and Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo 18-21, 23-21, 21-19.
• Kidambi Srikanth delivered the final win against Jonatan Christie—winning in straight games, 21-15, 23-21.

See the winning moment below: 

Also lovely, this photo of Sen after the first victory that set us on the path to 3-0.

The bottomline: Is there any better takeaway than this clip of the Indian team joyously dancing together on the court?

Reading list

The Telegraph and ESPN have the key moments from the finals. ESPN also has a good overview of the men and women’s teams. Indian Express has a good profile of Lakshya Sen, Kidambi Srikanth, and the role of team spirit—while India Today profiles the doubles partnership of Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy. Scroll has a lovely photo gallery of the finals. Olympics.com has the best history of the game—while the Thomas Cup website has more on the tournament.