Epic Thomas Cup win, CWG high make 2022 a year to remember for Indian badminton
The Hindu
Lakshya and Sindhu cover themselves with glory in the singles event in Birmingham; Satwik-Chirag duo and Prannoy also produce consistent performances in the circuit
An epic Thomas Cup victory broke the glass ceiling while unprecedented success came at the Commonwealth Games as India took giant steps towards becoming a badminton powerhouse in 2022.
In a year of breathless action, PV Sindhu's grit, Lakshya Sen's exuberance and dogged determination of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty also resulted in six individual titles on the BWF Tour.
Double Olympic medallist Sindhu continued to excel with three titles — Syed Modi International, Swiss Open Super 350 and Singapore Open Super 500 — and capped the year with an elusive gold in Birmingham CWG before spending the rest of the season nursing an ankle injury.
But it was not just Sindhu's sensational show that defined Indian badminton this year as the men's players produced a series of gut-wrenching performances to not only achieve individual glory but also break the hegemony of China and Indonesia at the Thomas Cup in Bangkok.
If Sen secured his maiden Super 500 title and also bagged the CWG gold besides two final finishes, Satwik and Chirag made it their most successful year ever with two World Tour titles, CWG gold and a first-ever world championship bronze.
While Sen and Satwik-Chirag began the year with titles at the Indian Open Super 500, the 21-year-old from Almora went on to become the first Indian man after Pullela Gopichand to reach the finals of the All England Championships after another final finish at German Open.
However, the true moment of glory came a few months later in May when a group of men, led by HS Prannoy and Kidambi Srikanth, scripted an awe-inspiring run at Thomas Cup — the world's most prestigious team event — in Bangkok to return with first-ever gold.
