NEW DELHI: India's badminton head coach Pullela Gopichand has said that if India had visited nations like China some years ago and told them that they would win the Thomas Cup, they would have laughed. Gopichand was speaking to a national media outlet on India's growth in badminton.

“I would say that in badminton terms this is even bigger (than the 1983 World Cup win). I think nobody would have imagined that we would win something as big as this. Especially if you would have gone to a badminton playing nation like China and Malaysia and say that India were going to win the Thomas Cup someday, they would have laughed at you a few years ago. But I think that the quality of singles and the doubles also have ensured that we have been able to do this,” Gopichand said.

Gopichand said that although the Indian women have been performing well in the international arena for a long time, it was a great pleasure for him as a coach to see the men's team achieve such success in badminton.

In the 73 - year history of the Thomas Cup, only five nations have won, apart from India. Indonesia has won the title the most number of times and was a monopoly of the South East Asian nation. Denmark is the only European country to win this tournament. The fact that India defeated Denmark in the semi-finals and Indonesia in the final is a testament to how much progress the Indian players have made.