By Our Special Correspondent
In 73 years of Thomas Cup India’s men’s team has always fallen short of medaling at the event. That changed on Thursday night when HS Prannoy comfortably beat Malaysia’s Leong Jun Hao 21-13, 21-8 to seal the quarterfinal tie 3-2 in India’s favour. With a place in the semifinal guaranteed the men’s team assured itself of a medal.
Until Thursday, India had never won a medal in the Thomas Cup, despite the women's winning bronze medals in the Uber Cup in 2014 and 2016. Lakshya Sen, the bronze medallist in the World Championships, was defeated by Lee Zii Jia. Lakshya, who had never lost to the Malaysian star, let go of the opening game despite winning 21-23. The former All England champion and reigning Asian Championships gold medalist was on fire as he won 23-21, 21-9 in 46 minutes.
However, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty helped India even the game at 1-1 by defeating Fei Sze Goh and Izzuddin Nur in the first doubles match of the tie, 21-19, 21-15.The world champion silver medalist, Kidambi Srikanth, then defeated Young Tze Ng 21-11, 21-17 in 41 minutes.
Malaysia tied the match at 2-2 when Aarn Chia and Teo Ee Yi defeated Krishna Prasad and Panjala Vishnuvardhan by scores of 21-19 and 21-17. Then, in the do-or-die match, Prannoy delivered a flawless performance under stress against Leong Ju Hao, winning the deciding match 21-13, 21-8 in 30 minutes.
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