India reach first-ever Thomas Cup final

Bangkok: HS Prannoy produced a lion-hearted effort in the decisive fifth match as the Indian men's badminton team scripted history by reaching the title clash of the Thomas Cup Final for the first time ever with a 3-2 victory over Denmark in an edge-of-the-seat semifinal in Bangkok on Friday.

Indian team, which never went past the semifinals after 1979, showed tremendous fighting spirit as it came from a match down to outwit the 2016 champions.

While world championships silver medallist Kidambi Srikanth and world number 8 doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty kept India in the hunt, it was once again left to Prannoy to take the team home when the tie was locked 2-2. Up against world number 13 Rasmus Gemke, Prannoy suffered an ankle injury after slipping on the front court while going for a return but the Indian continued after taking a medical timeout.

He looked in pain and his on-court movement also looked restricted but despite all odds, he produced a sensational performance to come up trumps 13-21, 21-9, 21-12 to etch India's name in the history books.

India will now take on 14-time champion Indonesia, the most successful team in the history. Indonesia edged out Japan 3-2 in its semifinal.

A lot rode on world championship bronze medallist Lakshya Sen, given his recent win over Viktor Axelsen at the German Open Super 300 but he couldn't replicate his performance as the world number one scripted a comfortable 13-21, 13-21 win to hand Denmark a 1-0 lead.

Denmark decided to split its world number 9 pair of Kim Astrup and Anders Skaarup Rasmussen into two halves with Astrup partnering Mathias Christiansen in the first doubles.

However, Rankireddy and Shetty dished out a gritty performance, holding their nerves in the final stages to beat Astrup and Christiansen 21-18, 21-23, 22-20 to bring India back in the contest.

The Indian pair wasted five match points -- two in the second game and three in third game -- before converting one to bring joy back to the Indian camp.

With the tie locked 1-1, world number 11 Srikanth and world number 3 Anders Antonsen engaged in a battle of supremacy in the second singles with the former coming out on top with a gritty 21-18, 12-21, 21-15 result to give India a 2-1 lead.

India's second doubles combination of Krishna Prasad Garaga and Vishnuvardhan Goud Panjala, however, was no match for Anders Skaarup Rasmussen and Frederik Sogaard, losing 14-21, 13-21 as the tie was tentatively poised at 2-2 after the fourth match.

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