BWF World Championship Final: Kidambi Srikanth claims Silver medal

In Sunday’s final match, Srikanth lost the match to  Singapore’s Loh Kean Yew in the men’s singles final by 21-15, 22-20 and he became the first-ever Indian man to achieve the feat at the marquee tournament. 

Singapore’s Loh Kean Yew also became the first-ever Singapore man to win a world championship title. 

Three years ago, In the 2018 Commonwealth Games mixed team event, Srikanth had defeated Loh for the only time. 

On this he said, “Last time I played him was four (three) years back, which is a pretty long time. He has improved his game, he has matured as a player, his physical strength has improved and he is playing exceptionally well.” 

Currently, Kidambi is ranked 14th in the world. 

In a very prestigious event, when two Indians played against each other, In that game Srikanth won the semi-final, he shared a space on the podium as medallists—Lakshya Sen won the bronze medal. 

The silver medalist give a few words after the finals, he said, “In a few tournaments, I played really well and in few tournaments, I couldn’t play well this year, but again, to reach the final of a world championship is something, that I really worked hard for, and I am really happy to be here today.” 

“I will try to continue to work hard, it is a process and there are many other tournaments next year, like the Commonwealth Games, Asian Games, world championship, so it is a very big year, next year. So I will try to stay positive.”

On the other hand, Japanese Akane Yamaguchi defeated Chinese Tai Tzu Ying by 14-21, 11-21 in women’s singles. 

For the women’s mixed double, Dechapol Puavaranukroh/Sapsiree Taerattanachai defeated Yuta Watanabe/Arisa Higashino by 21-13, 21-14.