Badminton
Kidambi Srikanth becomes third Indian male shuttler to win BWF World Championships medal
He has also officially assured Indian of its first medal at this year's tournament with his victory in the quarterfinal round
Kidambi Srikanth (Source: BWF/badminton Photo)
Kidambi Srikanth will join a list of decorated Indian male shuttles as he has assured India a medal at the ongoing BWF World Championships. The 12 seed Indian shuttler has reached the semi-finals of the men's singles event after a phenomenal run from the first round onwards.
READ | Kidambi Srikanth becomes first Indian man to reach World Championships final
There are two other shuttles who have preceded Kidambi with this accolade. The first is Prakash Padukone who won a bronze medal in the 1983 Copenhagen World Championships. The other shuttler is Srikanth's teammate Sai Praneeth who won bronze in the 2019 World Championships held in Basel.
Kidambi Srikanth has had a stellar run at this year's tournament. He started off by beating Pablo Abian of Spain in the first round. This was followed up by a thrilling game against Li Shi Feng where Kidambi Srikanth won 15-21, 21-18, 21-17. Lu Guang Zu of China was up next and was defeated soundly by Srikanth in the round of 16. Quite surprisingly, Srikanth steamrolled his way again in the quarterfinals by defeating Mark Caljouw of the Netherlands by 21-8, 21-7.
This confirms India's first medal at this year's BWF World Championships and the third medal overall at the BWF World Championships in the men's singles event.
Srikanth's World Championships record
2020 - SF
2019- 3rd round
2018 - 3rd round
2017 - QF
2015 - 3rd round
2014 - 3rd round
Srikanth also enjoys a great record against fellow Indians in international events. Srikanth has 36-11 career win-loss record against Indians and 17-3 in last 20 matches.
He will face Lakshya Sen in the first-ever all-Indian men's singles WCH semifinalson Saturday.
