'%20x='0'%20y='0'%20height='100%25'%20width='100%25'%20%0A%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20xlink%3Ahref='data:image/jpg;base64,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'%3E%3C/image%3E%3C/svg%3E)
It was a historic win for India as the men’s badminton team entered the finals of the team event at the Asian Games 2023. In a nail-biting finish, the Indian shuttlers pulled off a 3-2 victory over the mighty South Korean team.
The tie started with a win by the in-form HS Prannoy. The 2023 Malaysian Masters gold medalist won his marathon of a match, lasting 78 minutes with a score of 18-21, 21-16, 21-19.
World No. 2 pair Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy gave an extremely tough fight but couldn’t find the ability to beat the Korean pair of Seungjae Seo and Minhyuk Kang. They went down with a score of 13-21, 24-26.
With the score of the tie leveled at 1-1, Lakshya Sen made easy work of Lee Yungyu, beating him with a dominating scoreline of 21-7, 21-9, giving India the lead.
Arjun MR and Dhruv Kaplia took the court in the fourth match, but the duo failed to help secure the win for India, going down 21-21-16, 21-11 in a well-fought 45-minute match.
India’s champion and former world No. 1, Kidambi Srikanth, helped India secure the historic win with a 12-21, 21-16, 21-14 win over Korean counterpart Cho Geonyeop to set up a clash with home team China in the finals.
Social media went into a frenzy after the victory, and fans and fellow players took to X (formerly Twitter) to express their joy at seeing Kidambi Srikanth and the team's heroics in the semifinal.
The official account of Indian badminton was all praise for the Indian team, writing:
"FIRST-EVER FINAL FOR TEAM INDIA AT ASIAN GAMES"
Here's how fans reacted to Indian men's badminton team's momentous triumph and Kidambi Srikanth's heroics:
Despite this being India’s first-ever Asian Games men’s team event final, Indian badminton fans have a lot of expectations for the Indian men’s team, a team that won the Thomas Cup in 2022, to win gold in Hangzhou. The nation is hopeful that the star badminton players produce a similar result to that of the semifinal on October 1 against home team and favourites China.
