Huelva: The entire badminton fraternity will witness a historic moment when two of India’s greatest pyrotechnicians compete in a historic World Championship men’s singles duel for the first time on Saturday. Kidambi Srikanth and Lakshya Sen might well have the artistry when they prowl the net.
Srikanth cut a strikethrough on Mark Caljouw’s desire in 26 minutes, won 21-8, 21-7, and ensured India’s position in the Worlds final. Later in the match, Lakshya Sen spent 67 minutes building up Chinese Zhao Jun Peng’s hopes, only to charge him at the net while saving and making good match points, and in between sending back an outrageously unbalanced down-the-line backhand winner for three highlights package points of his debut Worlds. He won by scores of 21-15, 15-21, and 22-20.
Exceptional 🤩🤩🤩
India's Kidambi Srikanth and Lakshya Sen have made the semi-finals of the ongoing BWF World Championships 2021, assuring themselves of a medal.
📸: @badmintonphoto#Badminton | #BWFWorldChampionships | #Huelva2021 pic.twitter.com/idyvzBrM5s
— Olympic Khel (@OlympicKhel) December 17, 2021
In the last 38 years, India has won two men’s singles medals: Prakash Padukone in 1983 and B Sai Praneeth in 2019. This year’s draw became available when World No. 1 Japanese Kento Momota, two top Chinese and Indonesian players withdrew, and a handful of other Top Ten players were eliminated fairly and squarely for playing poor badminton. However, the Indians would still have to swat away anyone who stood in their way of a medal.
