India's rising shuttler and current India Open champion Lakshya Sen fought stomach sickness to help India clinch their first Thomas Cup title in 73 years. Sen was not at his brutal best in the knockout stages but in the finals, at the stage when it mattered the most, the shuttler delivered. He beat current world number five Anthony Sinisuka Ginting to give India an important 1-0 lead.
And not to forget, this was a remarkable come-from-behind win and not an easy one. He lost the first game 8-21 and it all seemed over for him but Lakshya did not give up so easily and stormed back in style. He won next two games 21-17 21-16 to show his temperament and skill.
Indian men's badminton team coach Vimal Kumar revealed that Lakshya was not well since arriving to Bangkok from India.
We are team India !
And we are not done yet __#ThomasAndUberCups2022 pic.twitter.com/PEvui85Me5— Lakshya Sen (@lakshya_sen) May 13, 2022
He said he had food poisoning after he ate something at the Bangalore airport.
"..Whole flight he was sick. We forced him to play against Germany and after that he was given rest, but we had to field him so it was tough for him.
"He got better every day, and today against Ginting he had beaten him in Germany but I thought he would lose after he got a bad mauling in the first game but he made a comeback, I am really proud of him for what he did today."
Further Vimal Kumar said that he hopes Thomas Cup win does for Indian badminton what 1983 Cricket World Cup win did for Indian cricket.