Kolkata : India, with no medals after first 31 editions of Thomas Cup, secured two podium finishes in last four years, including historic Gold in Bangkok (2022) and a well earned Bronze in Denmark (2026).
India, seeded with defending champion China, Canada, Australia in Group A, didn’t face any difficulties in defeating Canada (4-1) and Australia (5-0). However, lost to China (2-3) narrowly in battle of group topper.
In the Quarter Final, India defeated dangerous and in form Chinese Taipei. Lakshya Sen produced a thrilling performance for his 18-21, 22-20, 21-17 triumph over WR 6 Chou Tien Chen, thereby, saving 2 points. India’s iconic pair Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty faced intense challenge from Hsian Chieh Chiu and Wang Chi-lin. But ‘Sat-Chi’ emerged victorious by margin of 23-21, 19-21, 21-12. Tournament debutant and WR 18 Ayush Shetty also crushed WR 10 and All England Open Champion Lin Chun-yi 21-16, 21-17, making it 3-0 for India.
However, in the semi final, India had to face a spirited France, who were determined to uproot any strength in front of them, and were coming on back of upsetting Indonesia (4-1 in Group Stage) and Japan (3-0 in Quarter Final).
A huge blow struck India few hours before the match as India’s trump card and WR 10 Lakshya Sen got ruled out of the match with swollen elbow which he suffered during Chinese Taipei clash where Chou tested him with multiple dives.
French team’s combination also took Satwik-Chirag out of the picture. With Popov brothers – Christo and Toma Junior, its No. 1 and No. 3 singles player – also forming its top doubles pair, the match order had to be determined in a manner which allowed the two enough time to rest and recover between matches. Therefore, Satwik-Chirag duo could only be in action if the tie went the distance.
It never reached that stage as France swept aside India with a 3-0 scoreline. WR 4 Christo outplayed Ayush, India’s best singles player in Lakshya’s absence, 11-21, 9-21. WR. 10 Alex Lanier took down Srikanth 21-16, 21-18 and Toma Junior wrapped up the match with a 21-19, 21-16 victory over Prannoy. With this France went to the final historically, losing to China 3-1.
However, clouds hovering over India’s future road in Badminton get darker. With Srikant and Pranoy ageing up, Lakshya Sen performing well and in Doubles lack of performers apart from Satwik-Chirag, it questions India’s talent pool and bench strength, despite having rising stars like Ayush and an improving doubles specialist Hariharan Amsakarunan. India’s squad retained the core from the team that stunned 14-time champion Indonesia in the final four years ago – Lakshya, Kidambi Srikanth, H.S. Prannoy, Satwik-Chirag, only to settle for Bronze.
The situation is not different in Indian Women’s Badminton as well, as the team failed to progress to the quarterfinals after losses to China and Denmark in the group stage in Uber Cup 2026.
After losing a close 3-2 match to Denmark and winning 4-1 against Ukraine, India suffered a 0-5 defeat to China to exit the tournament.
Failures and over reliance from legends like PV Sindhu and youngsters like Tanvi Sharma, Devika Sihag, and others performing well but without success spark series of questions.
During Group A battle against China Sindhu, WR 12 pushed world No. 2 Wang Zhiyi to the brink in the opening singles match. The former world champion controlled large parts of the decider and opened up an 18-12 lead, only for Wang Zhiyi to reel off seven straight points and close out a 21-16, 19-21, 21-19 win. WR 38, Isharani Baruah came close in the opening game before going down 22-20, 21-13 to former Olympic champion and fourth-ranked Chen Yufei, while Devika Sihag, ranked 43, lost 19-21, 21-17, 21-10 to China’s world No. 97 Xu Wenjing.The doubles pairing of Tanisha Crasto and Kavipriya Selvam took the opening game against Luo Xumin and Zhang Shuxian, but lost 10-21, 21-12, 21-19.
In the other doubles match, Priya Konjengbam and Shruti Mishra were beaten 21-11, 21-8 by Liu Shengshu and Tan Ning.
With Asian Games set to take place later this year, there are lots of questions Badminton Association of India will have to answer. The work somewhat seems to have begun already as on April 29, the federation released an advertisement looking for “highly qualified and experienced Indian coaches” to train the Indian players at three major centres in Hyderabad, Bengaluru and Guwahati.
