Kidambi Srikanth became the first Indian male shuttler to win silver in men's singles event at the BWF World Championships on December 19, 2021. He settled for the silver after losing to Singapore's Loh Kean Yew in straight sets of 21-15, 22-20. The summit clash lasted for a total of 43 minutes.
Though Kidambi Srikanth had taken an early lead of 9-3, Yew bounced back taking the first game 21-15 and carried his momentum to take the second game as well. Yew has become the first male shuttler from Singapore to win a gold medal at the BWF World Championships.
Kidambi Srikanth had created history earlier on December 18th by becoming the first Indian shuttler to enter the men's singles final of the BWF World Championships in Huelva.
Kidambi Srikanth first Indian male shuttler to enter BWF World Championship finals
Kidambi Srikanth, who is currently ranked world no.14, not only became the first Indian male shuttler to qualify for the final at the prestigious event but the third Indian to achieve the feat after PV Sindhu and Saina Nehwal.
The former world number one beat his Indian compatriot Lakshya Sen by 17-21, 21-14, 21-17 in a thrilling match that lasted for one hour and nine minutes in the men's singles semi-finals.
He had earlier defeated Dutch shuttler Mark Caljouw in two straight sets of 21-8, 21-7 to enter the men's singles semifinals of the BWF World Championships.
This is a significant achievement for Srikanth after missing his Olympic berth at the Tokyo Olympics 2020.
Other Indians at BWF World Championship 2021
This was the first time when four Indian shuttlers qualified for the quaterfinals of BWF World Championships. The four shuttlers included Kidambi Srikanth, Lakshya Sen, PV Sindhu and HS Prannoy. Both Sindhu and Prannoy bowed out of the tournament in the quaterfinal stage.
Lakshya Sen settles for Bronze
India's Lakshya Sen would have been the youngest-ever finalist at the BWF World Championships singles' event had he won the semifinal match against Kidambi Srikanth. He, however, won the bronze medal, an honour that he will share with legendary Indian shuttler Prakash Padukone, who won bronze in 1983 and B Sai Praneeth, who won bronze in 2019.
PV Sindhu bows out early
PV Sindhu is the lone Indian shuttler to win the singles event at the BWF Championships. The current world no.7, who is also the defending champion of the event, bowed out from the BWF Championships 2021 Women's Singles event after losing to Taiwan's Tai Tzu-Ying in the women's singles quarterfinal event. She had won the BWF World Championships in 2019 in Basel, Switzerland. The event did not take place last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The BWF World Championships women's singles final will take place between Taiwan's Tai Tzu-Ying and Japan's Akane Yamaguchi.
Comments
All Comments (0)
Join the conversation