BWF World Championships: Lakshya Sen and Srikanth confirm medals, Sindhu and Prannoy lose

Star ferries Kidambi Srikanth and young Lakshya Sen made history by reaching the men’s singles semi-finals of the BWF Badminton World Championship on Friday. By reaching the semi-finals, India had at least two medals. But in the women’s singles, India was disappointed that defending champion PV Sindhu lost to Tai Tzu Ying in the quarterfinals. It could have been a great achievement for Indian badminton if India’s third-ranked in men’s singles, HS Prannoy, had won the quarter-finals, but lost 14-21 12-21 to Singapore’s Kean Yew Loh in 43 minutes.

A silver medal for India is also assured, as Srikanth and Lakshya will meet in the first semi-final on Saturday. It has proven to be a historic day in the tournament for India. First up, former world number one and 12th seed Srikanth defeated Mark Kalzou of the Netherlands 21-8 21-7 in just 26 minutes in the quarterfinals here. Young Sen then showed a brilliant display of his belligerence and defeated Jun Peng Zhao of China 21-15, 15-21, 22-20 in a thrilling three-game match in the quarterfinals. The game lasted one hour and seven minutes.

Sen said: “I was full of confidence at the rally. But we both made some mistakes. I failed at 20-20 but still managed to put in a winner, I was a bit lucky. He added: “I have not played against Srikkanth in three years so it will be a good match. He is also playing very well and has already beaten his rivals this week before reaching double digits. Sen added:” I am also playing well and we both play an aggressive game. Let’s see who makes it to the final. India has confirmed a finalist, which is good. I am ready to compete. ,

Srikanth, world No. 14, led 11-5 in the first game and after the break he led 14-8 to win the game with seven consecutive points. The second game was no different with Srikkanth completely outscoring his opponent. He scored seven consecutive points after scoring 4-3. Then after 17-7, he won the match by winning four consecutive points. Srikkanth said: “I told myself that I had to stay in the game. I didn’t want to miss great opportunities or make easy mistakes, I had to stay focused. He said:” I’m happy to get to the semi-finals. Before entering this tournament, I was only thinking about the opening match. Only after that thought about the next match. ,

In women’s singles, top seed Tai Tzu broke Sindhu’s dream of retaining the title by winning the quarterfinals 21-17, 21-13 in 42 minutes. Sindhu, the world’s number seven player and two Olympic medalist, won the title in 2019 and the tournament could not be held in 2020 due to the Corona epidemic. Sindhu had defeated Tai Tzu in this tournament in 2019, but lost to her in the semi-finals of the Tokyo Olympics. Before this match, his win-loss record against Tai Tzu was 14-5.

We report that prior to Sen and Srikanth in men’s singles, great players Prakash Padukone (1983 bronze medalist) and B Sai Praneeth (2019 bronze medalist) had won medals. Sindhu has won five medals at the World Championships, while Saina Nehwal has two medals to her name. The women’s doubles pair of Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa also won bronze in 2011.