This was India’s second podium finish at the Thomas Cup, with the first coming in 2022. | Photo Credit: Getty Images

When the Indian men’s badminton team clinched its maiden Thomas Cup title in 2022, the whole nation celebrated the historic achievement wholeheartedly.

After all, India had never finished on the podium in the first 29 editions of the tournament.

Chirag Shetty remembers it clearly. When he landed in Mumbai after the triumph in Bangkok, there were people waiting to welcome him. Later, the entire team had a reception at Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s residence. The squad was also felicitated by the Badminton Association of India. However, he also points out that apart from the sport’s followers, who understood the significance of the victory, the general public didn’t give the kind of recognition it deserved.

Four years later, after returning home with a bronze medal, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy, Chirag’s doubles partner, described his emotions through social media. Sharing an image of the majority of the team members taking a selfie before leaving for the tournament in Horsens and another after coming back to India, the shuttler wrote, “Back home now. As usual, no one knows what happened over the past two weeks, and it seems like no one really cares.”

Echoing the sentiment, Chirag shared Satwik’s message on his own social media account.

“The general public, I feel, didn’t really know the magnitude of the (2022) result and that, sometimes, really makes me sad because I think we are not a sporting nation yet,” said Chirag in an interaction facilitated by the Sports Authority of India on Tuesday.

“We win a lot of medals but we don’t celebrate our athletes the way we should. There’s plenty more that we need to do. There’s only very little that the government can do which they are already doing. The schemes and everything else for the past 10 years since I’ve been playing professional badminton have been terrific. But I think the ecosystem needs to start celebrating sporting achievements.”

Chirag also stated that the other disciplines should get the recognition without being put in the same bracket as cricket. “A lot of times, the debate becomes cricket versus the other sports. And as a sportsperson, I don’t want to get into that. It’s the respect other sports need and it shouldn’t be compared to what cricket gets. Those are two completely different things. Sporting achievements should get the rightful due that they deserve. That’s why Satwik shared what he had to,” he said.

H.S. Prannoy, who has been a member of both medal-winning squads, pointed out that perhaps, the name of the competition also plays a role in people not understanding its importance. “Unfortunately, the tournament’s name is Thomas Cup, which people don’t know is a World Cup,” said the 33-year-old.

“The second thing is once you do it, and when there is not enough recognition given to that, then it is very tough for the players to be convinced every single time to do this because they always think, ‘What is the value of doing this for us?’ We are spending almost two and a half, three weeks out there, trying to build a team which we are not used to. We are used to playing an individual sport 99 per cent of the time.

“For me or probably the senior players, to convince the junior players that we need to get this done again for the country is very tough. So, if you are not celebrating a bronze medal, a silver or a gold, then I don’t think going forward, it would be easier to get these kinds of events. To get a Thomas Cup back to India is going to be really tough,” he added.

Lakshya played through injury against Chou Tien Chen

In the quarterfinals, India was up against Chinese Taipei. World No. 11 Lakshya Sen, the country’s top-ranked singles player, came into the contest after tough losses to World No. 7 Li Shifeng (China) and World No. 13 Victor Lai (Canada), and a solitary win against World No. 170 Ephraim Stephen Sam (Australia).

Facing World No. 6 Chou Tien Chen in the opening singles of the last-eight fixture, Lakshya injured his elbow while diving to retrieve the shuttle during the first game. However, with the adrenaline pumping, he forgot about the impact quickly. Eventually, he won 18-21, 22-20, 21-17 after saving two match points in the second game.

But despite his best efforts, he had to miss the semifinal against France, which India lost 0-3.

“I couldn’t realise it (the injury) at that time. It hurt for two-three points when I dived but after that, I completely forgot and the adrenaline was so high that I couldn’t focus on that. But immediately after the match, when I went back, I saw my elbow was swollen,” revealed Lakshya.

“The coach told me that he saw the elbow in the match, but he didn’t tell me that it looked pretty bad because I was not complaining about it then. But once I came back and when the body cooled down, it started hurting a little bit and there was some redness around the swelling as well. I had a call with the doctors, the physios and they said it is looking quite bad and they thought that if I played, I will be able to give my 60-70 per cent.”

“But there were chances that it could get worse because we didn’t know what happened inside the elbow at that moment because the swelling was too much. It was a collective decision. I tried until the very end to play the match but it was not possible,” he added.

He mentioned that he got the scans done after coming back to India and based on the extent of his injury and recovery, he will take a call regarding his participation in next week’s Thailand Open.

Published on May 05, 2026