India’s men’s team reached their 1st ever Thomas Cup final in 73-year-history with a 3-2 victory over Denmark in a nail-biting thriller.
The victories from World Championships silver Medalist Kidambi Srikanth, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty, HS Prannoy did it for the team.
India’s in-form Lakshya Sen began the proceedings for India but he went down to the reigning Olympic champion Viktor Axelsen in 49 minutes.
However, World Number 8 doubles pair Rankireddy, Shetty put India back into the fight. Then the leader of the pack, Srikanth held the perfect 5 out of 5 record to make it 2-2. In the end, everything fell over the shoulders of HS Prannoy. Playing against World Number 13 Rasmus Gemke, Prannoy needed something special.
To make things worse, he suffered an ankle injury after slipping on the court. He received medical attention immediately but looked in pain and his movements looked restricted during the final half of the match.
Still, he produced an outstanding performance to take India to the final.
Prannoy lost the 1st game 13-21 but came back to win the next two to seal the victory.
India will take defending champions Indonesia in the final.
