Badminton News: New Year's resolutions: An Indian podium sweep

In 2022, India's men's badminton team finally bucked the trend and pulled off the miraculous, claiming their first Thomas Cup, also known as the World Men's Team Championships. You could wake up in the new year 2023, and it would still be true: India, Thomas Cup winners. It does not matter how fast a calendar page turns; the surprise will never cease to amaze.

In the 2023 edition, however, it will be the world against us, that is, the world against India. But this midsummer night's dream comes actually changes the perspective on the challenge ahead: the Indian team can do it all.

For far too long, the Thomas Cup has only been watched from afar as China, Korea, Indonesia, Malaysia, and most recently, Japan fought like many-headed teams for the team title.

Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty, a doubles pair not afraid of eye contact at the net, were joined by a couple of chirpy Danes and Malaysians. The two remained calm and didn't allow any noise from outside or sledging to ruffle their hair, let alone mess with their minds.

As 2023 approaches, the next Thomas Cup or Sudirman Cup will be an opportunity for India to compete. It's about more than just defending a title as it's about staying in contention, fighting these individual battles on an enormous battlefield and shouting as a team rather than as individuals.

With 2023 being an Olympic qualification year, it'll always be about balancing long-term goals with individual titles.

However, only two can qualify, so in an ideal world, the three singles players, as well as Sameer Verma and B Sai Praneeth, as well as Priyanshu Rajawat, Mithun Manjunath, and Kiran George, would spread out in draws, take out the big names, and assault titles as a pack as the Chinese used to do.

With India going for a multi-pronged attack, the doubles pairings are just a little behind, with Dhruv-Arjun and Krishna-Vishnuvardhan trailing Satwik Chirag, but success is contagious. And when one duo has made a breakthrough, others should be able to catch up in their ascent.