It was an established drill after every win—singing and dancing in one of the shuttler’s rooms. On May 15, though, every song was louder and every dance more spirited. The adrenaline was high, and understandably so. The Indian men’s badminton team had just defeated 14-time champions Indonesia to win their maiden Thomas Cup.
It was former world no 1 Kidambi Srikanth who clinched it for India. He beat Jonatan Christie 21-15, 23-21 in the third match, and remained his stoic self even as his ecstatic teammates, coaches and support staff rushed towards him.
“It has still not sunk in,” Srikanth told THE WEEK the following day. “Except for in major super series, the national anthem is not played anywhere. [Ensuring] that our national anthem was played was a moment of pride. Individually, we have so many victories to our name, but as a team we have not done anything and that was on our minds. We wanted it for ourselves and for the country more than anything.”
Srikanth, along with fellow veteran H.S. Prannoy., both 29, had been the architects of the victory. And team bonding was their blueprint. While the team shared a WhatsApp group with the coaches and support staff, they also made one of their own. Called “It’s coming home”, it was a space to motivate each other and keep believing in themselves. The first message on the group was: “How’s the josh?”; it was high then, and remained so hours after the win.
Said former India player and current coach Vimal Kumar: “I do not have any words to describe it. I have never seen them so enthusiastic. It was all team spirit. We have never seen this in the past. These players are incredible.”
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