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.