Prime Minister Narendra Modi hosted the members of the historic Indian team that won the Thomas Cup in Bangkok after stunning Indonesia 3-0. After congratulating the Indian team over telephone for their historic victory, the prime minister met them personally with the badminton team, which included shuttlers from the women’s Uber Cup squad.
The prime minister shared a 28-minute video of his candid interaction with the champions on his Twitter handle. “I congratulate the whole team on behalf of the nation. This is not a small feat. You have done it. There was a time when we were so behind in these tournaments that no one would know here,” said Modi.
“I can proudly say that no other athlete in the world can boast about this. Only we had the privilege of talking to you immediately after the match,” Kidambi Srikanth, who spearheaded the team’s victorious campaign, told the prime minister, evoking applause from the fellow players. The prime minister asked Srikanth about his mindset while leading the team on a big forum like the Thomas Cup.
“Everyone was playing well, so my only aim was to bring all of us together as it was a team event and we had to play like a single unit. We used to have small discussions within ourselves about how to go about the game and I did not have to do much being a captain as everyone in the team had been doing good,” Srikanth replied.
