Chirag Shetty arrives in Mumbai, opens up on how India won Thomas Cup against all odds

Team India scripted history this past Sunday when they lifted their maiden Thomas Cup by beating 14-time champions Indonesia in the finals by an emphatic scoreline of 3-0. The team competing in the finals included World Championship medalist Lakshya Sen, former world no.1 Kidambi Srikanth and the world no.8 doubles duo of Satwik Sairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty. Shetty, who has just arrived at the Mumbai Airport, following his historic triumph, revealed the emotions and the desire he and the team had.

Chirag Shetty delighted at winning Thomas Cup

While speaking to ANI on arriving at the Mumbai Airport, Chirag Shetty said, "I am feeling extremely happy. In our previous Thomas Cup tournaments, we could not reach the top level. But we all had to win. We made an 'Its Coming Home' group on Whatsapp before because we had in our mind that we had to win. Odds were against us but our will to win was in our favour."

The odds were definitely against India as they not only defeated 14-time champions Indonesia to win their maiden Thomas Cup title in 73 years, but they also defeated several other heavyweights along the way. India began their journey in the group stages when they registered 5-0 victories over both Germany and Canada before suffering a 3-2 loss to Chinese Taipei in the final group clash, their only defeat in the title-winning run.

Despite losing out on the top spot in the group stages, it did not stop the Indian team from scripting history. They defeated five-time champions Malaysia 3-2 to reach only their fourth quarter-final in history. Previously, when they had reached this far was in 1952, 1955 and 1979. They followed that win up with another fantastic 3-2 victory against Denmark, in which HS Prannoy battled through injury to win the final clash against Gemke.

As for the final, all the Indian stars who competed against their Indonesian counterparts produced a masterclass. Lakshya Sen began the proceedings by defeating world no.5 Anthony Sinisuka Ginting 8-21, 21-17, 21-16 despite having a slow start to the game.

His win was followed by the doubles pairing of Satwik Sairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty demonstrating their mettle to not only save four match points in the second game but to go on and beat the star-studded Indonesian duo of Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo and Mohammad Ahsan by a scoreline of 8-21, 23-21, 21-19.

With a 2-0 lead in the final, history was within their reach, and Kidambi Srikanth delivered when it mattered most. The former world number one used all his experience and skill to produce a dominating performance to defeat Jonathan Christie 21-15, 23-21 in just 48 minutes. Srikanth's win helped the Indian team to achieve the unthinkable despite all the odds stacked against them as they went from sheer underdogs to being crowned the champions of one of the most prestigious tournaments.