Delhi: Star shuttler HS Prannoy believes that the team bonding amid the Indian shuttlers in the Thomas Cup squad will be important in their title defence in Chengdu. The 2024 Thomas commences right now in the Chinese metropolis.
“I believe Thomas Cup is a thing which is quite thrilling, to be trustworthy, mainly because we will be there as the defending champions,” Prannoy advised The Bridge earlier this month.
India has despatched a complete-energy squad to the Chinese metropolis, retaining the title-successful workforce of Thailand 2022.
The Indian staff are a composition of seasoned and youthful exuberance. Although environment no. 1 men’s doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty will be spearheading the staff currently being the most effective pair and players on the intercontinental circuit, the likes of Lakshya Sen, Kidambi Srikanth, Priyanshu Rajawat, Kiran George, Dhurv Kapila, Arjun MR, and Sai Pratheek will glance to hold Indian domination at the men’s earth group championship intact.
When India defeated Indonesia in the closing two several years back to script background at Nonthaburi, Prannoy was India’s third-choice singles participant. But this calendar year, he will walk into the courtroom as India’s mainstay in singles, suggesting the transition he went by way of in two several years.
“I am privileged to have this prospect. Specified that I have the practical experience of actively playing in the Thomas Cup, I will again myself for all the matches,” remarked Prannoy.
Crew bonding is India’s toughness
The 2022 Thomas Cup triumph kick-began a happy section for Indian badminton in staff activities with a number of medals coming from events like the Badminton Asia Blended Team Championships, the Asian Online games and the modern triumph of the women’s crew at the Badminton Asia Championships.
The team gatherings have acted as a breath of clean air for the gamers who normally engage in by itself on the BWF circuit.
Speaking about the relevance of workforce gatherings, Prannoy would say, “To go out into a crew ambiance has generally been refreshing for the reason that we have been enjoying personal tournaments and you are inclined to get lonely at periods since of the sheer selection of tournaments you perform.”
“So I imagine it is a form of big refreshment out there for us to be with the crew, and I believe we are heading with the entire squad out there,” he added.
There has been a mindful hard work to make a healthy group natural environment that strengthens the crew.
“For us, the challenge would be to uncover new items in every single match to make it really appealing during workforce situations, crew bonding workouts, and all all those points,” Prannoy said, chatting about how bonding develops in a crew.
“We have always tried using to generate a favourable environment. Chirag, Satwik and I have stepped up to do this intentionally. The workforce sensation isn’t going to come by natural means induce we engage in an person activity. We as a crew are strongly bonded and enjoy the time we have with each other,” he described.
With all the eyes on the Indian team, compared with last time when they ended up underdogs, the onus lies on this ‘band of brothers’ to generate history by successful the coveted trophy for the 2nd time.