Medal for Srikanth; Sindhu loses

Huelva (Spain): Kidambi Srikanth assured himself of his maiden medal as he entered the men’s singles semifinal after a dominant performance but defending champion PV Sindhu lost to familiar foe Tai Tzu Ying in the women’s section of the BWF World Badminton Championships here on Friday.

Srikanth, seeded 12th in the showpiece tournament, sent Mark Caljouw of the Netherlands packing with a 21-8 21-7 in a quarterfinal match that lasted just 26 minutes.

The 28-year-old Srikanth will be the third Indian man to win a medal in the World Championships after Prakash Padukone (bronze in 1983) and B Sai Praneeth (bronze in 2019). Sindhu, who lost her quarterfinal match against Tai Tzu, has won five medals in the showpiece while Saina Nehwal has two medals to her name. The women’s doubles pair of Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa had also won a bronze in 2011.

Srikanth was ahead 11-5 at the first game’s change of ends and from 14-8, he took seven straight points to pocket it in a jiffy. The second game was no different as Srikanth outplayed his opponent. From 4-3, it was Srikanth all the way as he zoomed to another seven straight points. From 17-7, Sriknath pocketed another four points to win. In the women’s singles, Sindhu suffered a straight-game defeat to Tai Tzu of Chinese Taipei.