India entered the Thomas Cup semifinal for the first time in 43 years as they defeated five-times champion Malaysia in the quarterfinal in Bangkok on Thursday.
India got off to a disappointing start as World championships bronze medallist Lakshya Sen went down to Asian Championships gold medalist Lee Zii Jia 21-23, 9-21.
Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty brought India level as they won 21-19, 21-15 against Goh Sze Fei and Nur Izzuddin. Kidambi Srikanth gave India a 2-1 lead as he beat Ng Tze Yong 21-11, 21-17.
Aaron Chia and Teo Ee Yi made it 2-2 as they won against the inexperienced Indian pair of Krishna Prasad Garaga and Vishnuvardhan Goud Panjala 21-19, 21-17.
In the deciding singles, HS Prannoy outclassed Leong Jun Hao 21-13, 21-8 to give India the victory.
This will be India’s first-ever Thomas Cup medal. India had previously reached the semifinals in 1952, 1955 and 1979 but back then, only finalists were awarded medals.
