BWF World Championships 2021: Lakshya confirms India’s second medal, books semis meeting with Srikanth

Playing
in
his
first
ever
World
Championships,
young
Lakshya
defeated
the
Chinese
shuttler
21-15,
15-21,
22-20
in
the
men’s
singles
quarterfinals
match
that
lasted
for
an
hour
and
7
minutes.

With
this
win,
Lakshya
became
the
fourth
Indian
men’s
shuttler
to
win
a
medal
in
the
World
Championships.
He
also
became
the
second
youngest
Indian
to
win
a
medal
at
the
World
Championships
after
PV
Sindhu.

Lakshya
joined
the
likes
of
Prakash
Padukone,
B
Sai
Praneeth
and
Kidambi
Srikanth,
who
confirmed
a
medal
earlier
in
the
day
with
a
straight
games
win
in
his
quartefinal
match
against
Netherlands’ Mark
Caljouw.

Lakshya
will
now
meet
compatriot
Srikanth
in
an
all-India
semifinal
on
Saturday
(December
18),
assuring
the
country
of
the
first
ever
silver
medal
in
the
men’s
singles
event
at
the
World
Championships.

Trailing
at
the
first
break,
the
Indian
world
No.
19
absolutely
dominated
after
the
restart
and
exhibited
some
impressive
court
presence
against
the
Chinese
shuttler,
taking
the
first
game
21-15.

Chinese
world
No.
42
then
stepped
up
his
game
and
came
out
all
guns
blazing
in
the
second
game.
Zhao
Jun
Peng
found
a
way
to
curb
Sen’s
offensive
shots
and
forced
a
decider
with
a
score
of
21-15.

The
third
game,
however,
was
neck-and-neck.
Although,
Zhao
Jun
Peng
had
the
11-8
lead
against
the
Indian
at
the
midgame
break,
Lakshya
clawed
his
way
back
to
level
the
final
game
11-11.

In
the
end,
with
the
game
at
19-20,
the
Indian
saved
a
match
point
and
proceeded
to
win
the
match
by
holding
his
nerves.

Earlier
on
Friday
(December
18),
the
reigning
champion
Sindhu
crashed
out
of
the
women’s
singles
event
after
straight
games
17-21,
13-21
defeat
to
Chinese
Taipei’s
Tai
Tzu
Ying
in
the
quarterfinals.

HS
Prannoy,
meanwhile,
will
be
in
action
in
the
men’s
singles
quarterfinal
against
Singapore’s
Loh
Kean
Yew
later
in
the
day.