CHENNAI ■ MADURAI ■ VIJAYAWADA BENGALURU ■ KOCHI ■ HYDERABAD ■ VISAKHAPATNAM ■ COIMBATORE ■ KOZHIKODE ■ THIRUVANANTHAPURAM ■ BELAGAVI ■ BHUBANESWAR ■ SHIVAMOgGA ■ MANGALURU ■ TIRUPATI ■ TIRUCHY ■ TIRUNELVELI ■ SAMBALPUR ■ HUBBALLI ■ DHARMAPURI ■ KOTTAYAM ■ KANNUR ■ VILLUPURAM ■ KOLLAM ■ TADEPALLIGUDEM ■ NAGAPATTINAM ■ THRISSUR ■ KALABURAGI ■ ■ chennai l monday l may 16, 2022 l `9.00 l PAGES 16 l late city EDITION lakshya sen SatwiksairaJ rankireddy and chirag shetty Kidambi Srikanth The young star handed India 1-0 lead after beating world No 5 Anthony Sinisuka Ginting in a gruelling three games 8-21 21-17 21-16 Rankireddy and Chirag were in their immaculate best during the doubles match against the experienced pair of Mohammad Ahsan and Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo 18-21 23-21 21-19. The Indian pair saved four match points in the second game before clinching the third 21-19. Gave India 2-0 advantage before the second singles match. The experienced player controlled the game to beat Asian Games gold medallist Jonatan Christie 21-15 23-21 to give India victory Thomas arrives in shuttle S w a r o o p S w a m i n at h a n @ Chennai The Impact Arena in Bangkok has played host to some of the biggest personalities and bands in the world of music. Think Roger Waters, Coldplay, Beyonce, BTS and Britney Spears. On Sunday it , was jiving, heaving and grooving to the humble dhol. While the Indian fans in the stands were cranking up the noise in the arena, the Indian players tasked with rewriting history went about it in a calm, unhurried manner. When the weight of 73-years of history finally lifted at about 3.15 PM IST on Sunday it had a certain , authority to it. Kidambi Srikanth, who had been invincible all week, stretched his record to 6-0. By the time he saw off Indonesia’s Jonatan Christie in str­ ­ ght games and ai threw his racquet on the green turf before being enveloped by his onrushing teammates, the story had already started to sink in. “India are Thomas Cup champions for the first time ever”. Of course, like every story th­ ­ , e r­ are multiple protagonists who e made this dream a reality Laksh­ . ya Sen who took down Olympic bro­ ze medallist Anthony Gintn ing on the first match on Sunday . HS Prannoy a controversial direct , selection that set the tongues wagging even before the team had bo­ o­ ed their flight to the Thai capit­ k a­ , keeping his cool on multiple l occ­ sions. Srikanth himself br­ ­ ­ a in g­ ng his zen-like focus ga­ ­ after i me ga­ e, match after match while m qu­ etly guiding the side’s many i young players. The doubles st­ rs, a Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Ch­ i­ ag Shetty who kept chipping aw­ r , ay even when it looked the effort wasn’t translating into re­ ults. s The biggest factor, though, was the side’s mentality Heads never . 1 dead, 2 saved, 3 trapped as boulders crash on drivers in TN stone quarry Sreemathi M @ Tirunelveli ONE driver died and two others rescued on Sunday after six of them were trapped 300 feet below the opening of a stone quarry site late on Saturday at Adaimithipankulam near Tharuvai village in Tirunelveli district, police said. The workers were trapped after boulders from above rolled into the quarry, immobilising their trucks, sources said. According to police, the giant boulders crushed three lorries and three cranes and trapped Murugan, Vijay Selvam, Muru, gan, Rajendran and Selvakumar, all drivers. After multiple Efforts on to save three drivers still trapped under boulders | V KARTHIKALAGU efforts, a team of fire and rescue services personnel and rock climbers rescued Murugan and Vijay on Sunday morning and Selvam later in the day , hours after the accident. Selvam died at Tirunelveli Government Medical College Hospital where he had been admitted for treatment. Murugan and Vijay are currently being treated at the hospital. The condition of other three drivers is unknown. According to sources, a fire and rescue services team from Palayamkottai reached the accident site around midnight after a distress call from villagers. “The continuous falling of boulders is hampering the rescue operation. A medical team is stationed at the site,” Collector V Vishnu said.  Continued on: P5 dropped, shoulders never drooped and the belief never wavered as all of them embraced all of sport’s only true currency Giving up was . not an option. In modern sporting parlance, it’s known as ‘mamba me­ tality’ and that’s what this n team embraced. The proof of this is in the pudding. This side was 21 points away from not qualifying for the final. In the end, though, th­ s side became only the second i in the meet’s history to win the ev­ ent after failing to top the group ph­ se. Mentality monsters from a sta­­ to finish in the backdrop of rt dho­ s. l Full coverage: P11 The depth A jubilant Indian team mobs Kidambi Srikanth who won the third match against Indonesia to seal the gold in Thomas Cup in Bangkok | AP Behind the scenes of champions Bonding exercise The lead players were very secure about their place in the side. Coach U Vimal Kumar spoke about this in the post-match conference and it was in evidence when the side’s youngest player, Priyanshu Rajawat, received the Thomas Cup on the podium. Triumph of the collective When HS Prannoy went down clutching his ankle in the semifinal, it looked like panic stations. However, he fought through the pain barrier for the greater good. If anything defines this team, it’s this. It’s a bunch of individuals who make this team greater than the sum of their parts. This time last year, Lakshya was No 23 in the world. A fantastic last year, including winning a bronze at the Worlds, ha s helped him become the lead player. This gave both Prannoy and Srikanth winnable matches coming in as the 2nd and 3rd singles players. End result? They returned a record of 11-0. This might sound a little dramatic. But you know, when I was in Korea for the Korea Masters, and the following week we had selection trials… immediately after those trials, when the team got announced, we created a (Whatsapp) group titled ‘We’ll Bring It Home’, or something like that. — Kidambi Srikanth, on the belief in this team Road to gold Group stage bt Germany 5-0 bt Canada 5-0 lost to Chinese Taipei 2-3 Knockouts Quarterfinals bt Malaysia 3-2 Semifinals bt Denmark 3-2 Final bt Indonesia 3-0  Lakshya Sen bt Anthony Ginting 8-21, 21-17, 21-16.  Satwiksairaj Rankireddy/ Chirag Shetty bt Mohammad Ahsan/ Kevin Sanjaya 18-21, 23-21, 21-19.  Kidambi Srikanth bt Jonatan Christie 21-15, 23-21. Cong announces big-ticket reforms R a j e s h A s n a n i @ Udaipur The Congress on Sunday adopted its Udaipur Nav Sankalp Declaration at the end of its chintan shivir, drawing up a comprehensive roadmap for wide-ranging internal reforms to make the party battle-ready for all upcoming elections till the Lok Sabha polls in 2024. A task force will be set up in the next 2-3 days to implement the decisions, Congress president Sonia Gandhi announced in her concluding address. Also, an advisory committee of Congress Working Committee (CWC) members headed by Sonia will be formed to deliberate on political issues. Earlier, the CWC vetted the reports of six dedicated panels on organisational, political, economic, agricultural, social justice and youth-related issues, which formed the crux of the Udaipur Declaration. Among the approved proposals was the ‘one family one tick, et’ rule, with exemption for big hitters in the party for five years, which was seen as tailormade for Priyanka Gandhi Vadra. As reported in these columns over the last two days, 50% representation to those below 50 years of age across the party organisation, and 50% inhouse representation to Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, OBCs and minorities at all levels were approved. Also, no one can hold a party position for Sonia Gandhi addressing the concluding session of the shivir in Udaipur | PTI more than five years. Also, Congress will set up three new departments — public insight, election management and national training. Besides, it will also set up a monitoring wing to track the performance of all party officials across the country . Prominent among the mass action programmes the party conceived was a nationwide Kashmir to Kanniyakumari ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’ from Gandhi Jayanti day on October 2 this year. “It will aim to preserve the foundational values of our Constitution that are under assault and will highlight the day-to-day concerns of our people,” Sonia said. She also announced the start of a mass contact programme, called Jan Jagran Abhiyan, at the district level from June 15. Sonia sought to energise the delegates, saying, “we will overcome — that is our determination, that’s our sankalp.” P7