When the Thomas Cup quarterfinal between India and Chinese Taipei got underway in Horsens, you could sense a bit of tension amongst the Indian contingent. Since their historic triumph in 2022, India has never made it past the final 8 stage of the tournament.
And there was a familiar sinking feeling as we reached a crucial juncture of the match between Lakshya Sen and Chou Tien-chen as the Indian ace was staring at defeat, down by two match points in game two. Fit enough to make it to the climax of an Indian sports bollywood movie, Lakshya conjured strength from the badminton gods to spark a comeback, and this proved to be the template followed in the next two games.
The semi-final between India and France is scheduled to begin no earlier than 9:30 pm IST (6 pm local time). Live streaming will be available on JioHotstar, while television coverage will be broadcast on Star Sports.
Satwik-Chirag earned a hard-fought three-game win against Chinese Taipei’s top doubles team of Chiu Hsiang Chieh and Wang Chi-Lin. Then it was the chance of the star boy of Indian badminton, Ayush Shetty to step up.
The Asian Championships silver medallist took down the All England champion in straight games, overcoming a 10-12 deficit. This ended the four-year wait to make it to the semi-finals but the job isn’t done. Infact, it is far from it.
Standing up against them is France. Not a lot of people expected them to make it to the semi-finals, yet here they are, upsetting the odds and showing no regard for reputation.
Their biggest win came in their Group D encounter against 14-time champions Indonesia as they beat them 4-1. This was followed up with a 3-0 drubbing of 2014 champions Japan on Friday, to reach their maiden Thomas Cup semi-final and guarantee themselves a medal.
A win will see India reach the summit clash for the first time since their historic win in 2022 and they will be up against China or Denmark on Sunday, May 3.
THOMAS CUP SEMI-FINAL: PREDICTION
The India vs France match is expected to be a true 50-50 battle on Saturday. The strength for the French side will be the depth they have in the singles department.
Christo Popov is ranked No.4 in the world and will lead the French challenge. He will have Alex Lanier for company and the World No.10 is expected to prove to be a stern test for the Indian shuttlers.
Toma Jr. Popov is the third big name, and his experience will be key. What France did against Japan was to ensure that the doubles contests wasn’t needed. But that may not be the case when it comes to Saturday
Lakshya, Ayush and Kiran George, they’re familiar with the challenge from Popovs, having trained with them in the run-up to Paris Olympics.
With the form that Lakshya and Ayush are in at the moment, the rankings don’t really matter for them and nor do the big name reputation.
If France get pulled into the deep end, the doubles ties, then they will have the Popovs competing in the last tie. There India will keep their trump cards, Satwik-Chirag ready.
In case the singles ties do get a bit tricky, Kidami Srikkanth and HS Prannoy can jump in at any moment to put their experience to the fore and bail out the team.
With the quarterfinals, semis and final being played on cosecutive days, the only major concern seems to be fatigue and player recovery. If both sides are able to overcome this, then expect a battle for the ages.
“We believe that we can go all the way. It’s always been like this. We have a solid team and everyone believes that we can do it,” Ayush told PTI after the win.
India will be hoping that his words turn out to be gold and they can make the final one more time and challenge for the crown.
– Ends
