India capped off a notable run at the 2026 Thomas Cup, finishing third and securing the bronze medal after a 0-3 loss to France in the semifinal last Saturday in Denmark. It was only India’s second medal in Thomas Cup history, having clinched gold two editions ago. The squad expected a celebration. They expected shutterbugs at the airport. But there were none.
Satwiksairaj Rankireddy, by his own admission, is rarely vocal about such a lack of recognition. But this time, the incident saw him explode on social media. He shared a before-and-after picture of the men’s squad at the airport, showing no crowd, fans or media around them. The caption on his Instagram story read: “Back home now. As usual, no one knows what happened over the past two weeks, and it seems like no one really cares.” His doubles partner Chirag Shetty reshared the post.
Though SAI later organised a press conference, Satwik broke his silence in an interaction with The Indian Express, insisting that recognition, not rewards, matters most to players.
“I never share anything usually. I let go of things. But this time, I exploded. Someone has to speak up. It’s okay if I’m seen as the villain. In the last six months, I’ve been thinking—do only people who do bad things become popular? As players, we don’t want big things. We don’t want prize money. Even if a kid walks up to us and says, ‘Bhaiyya, you played well,’ or asks for a picture, we are happy,” he said.
Satwik further revealed that there were many Indians on their seven-hour flight from Germany to Hyderabad, but none asked about their performance or even recognised them, despite the players wearing Thomas Cup jerseys. He acknowledged that the IPL currently dominates attention, but stressed how difficult it is to even medal at the Thomas Cup, adding that similar recognition was missing even after their historic gold in 2022.
“We were on a seven-hour flight back from Germany to Hyderabad. Nobody even asked who we are or what medals we had won. There were so many Indians, many Telugus. We were wearing Thomas Cup jerseys. But everyone was busy with IPL, politics, whatever. Same thing when we won gold in 2022—we should have celebrated much more. People don’t realise these chances might not come again. It’s very tough to win the Thomas Cup; even medalling is tough. When we landed, all the players were just booking cabs—Prannoy, Srikanth, Dhruv. Nobody seemed to notice. My friends came to pick me up, but I felt really sad looking at that airport scene—top athletes trying to book cabs,” he added.
Chirag, on the other hand, said that while the squad was felicitated by the Prime Minister in 2022, it still lacked the scale of celebration typically seen after cricket victories in the country.
“It was that feeling that ‘still nobody cares.’ We never expected crowds at the airport. Last time, when we won, we were well received, we met the PM and were felicitated. But the way it should be celebrated, it wasn’t. Those who watch badminton appreciate it, but the general public doesn’t understand the magnitude of that 2022 win. It makes me sad that we are not yet a true sporting nation. There’s only so much the government and federation can do—their schemes are terrific. But the sporting ecosystem doesn’t celebrate achievements,” he said.
