The Denmark men's badminton team walked away with Europe's maiden Thomas Cup after victoriously getting the better of the tournament's 13-time champions Indonesia in a thrilling 3-2 triumph on Sunday in the final round of the world top men's badminton team tourney at the Kunshan Sports Center in Jiangsu, China. According to Xinhua, the eight-time Thomas Cup runners-up Denmark became only the fifth participating country after China, Indonesia, Japan and Malaysia to emerge as the tournament champions in the Cup history.

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Current world No. 4 Victor Axelsen gave the Scandinavian country a good start when he won against world No. 8 Tommy Sugiarto 21-17, 21-18 in the opening match that lasted for 54 minutes. The 22-year-old celebrated the victory by tossing his racket and sweater to the stand to thank the support from Chinese fans. "They were cheering for me throughout the game, so I should give them some gifts to show my gratitude," said Axelsen after handing the first team point for his team.

In the second match, the Indonesian pair of men's doubles current world No. 2 Mohammad Ahsan and Hendra Setiawan outplayed the Danes duo of Mads Pieler Kolding and Mads Conrad Petersen 21-18, 21-13 to even the match. The Indonesian wraps up the victory in just 41 minutes.

However, fifth ranked Jan O Jorgensen reclaimed the lead back for Denmark after defeating the 23-year-old world No. 20 Anthony Sinisuka Ginting with a two straight set 21-17, 21-12 win in a match that took 44 minutes to conclude.In the second doubles match, the combination of Angga Pratama and Ricky Karanda Suwardi made the championship battle more interesting as they were able to win and brought the match in to a 2-all deadlock.

But Denmark prevailed in the deciding fifth match to claim the championship. 30-year-old world No. 13 Han-Kristian Vittinghus overpowered the 20-year-old world No. 31 Ihsan Maulana Mustofa 21-15, 21-7 to scoop the winning point.

TagsDenmark, bwf, china, jan o jorgensen, victor axelsen