Srikanth becomes 1st Indian male to enter BWF World Badminton Championships final

Kidambi Srikanth could become the first Indian male to win the  BWF World Badminton Championships if and when the 28-year-old beats Singapore’s LOH Kean Yew in the gold medal match on Sunday. In the semi-finals against young compatriot Lakshya Sen, Srikanth staged a remarkable comeback to win 17-21 21-14 21-17. 

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Srikanth and Sen contested for an hour and nine minutes only to see the former become the first Indian male to enter the final. Meanwhile, Sen signed off with a maiden bronze, joining the legendary Prakash Padukone (bronze in 1983) and B Sai Praneeth (bronze in 2019) as the Indian medal winners at the showpiece.

India’s P V Sindhu has won two silvers, besides two bronze and the coveted gold in 2019, while the women’s doubles pair of Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa had also won a bronze, in 2011.

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Srikanth raced to an early lead before his 20-year-old opponent pulled level at 2-2. Two more points and Srikanth was in lead again. Then it was Sen’s turn to briefly take an 8-7 lead but Srikanth immediately levelled it at 8-8.

The 20-year Sen regained the lead and at 13-10, he was looking confident of maintaining the momentum, but Srikanth drew level at 16-16.

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Sen dominated from thereon to grab the first game and wrest the initiative.

However, Srikanth roared back into the contest with a flurry of smashes to take the second game and he continued in the same vein in the third game despite some fine defensive show by the 20-year-old to emerge winner.