Kidambi Srikanth Confirms India's First Medal At 2021 BWF World Championships

Kidambi Srikanth defeated Mark Caljouw to cruise into the semi-finals of the ongoing BWF World Championships on Friday in Huelva. The former world number one Indian thrashed the Dutch shuttler 21-8, 21-7 in a contest that lasted for just 26 minutes. With this win, Kidambi Srikanth confirmed India's first medal at the 2021 BWF World Championships and also his first-ever podium finish at the event. This is also India's third medal at the showpiece event in men's singles. The 12th seeded Indian raced to an 11-5 lead by the first mid-game interval. The Indian badminton player, who was looking sharp throughout the match, closed the first game at 21-8.

Caljouw tried to dig deep in the second game. However, Srikanth maintained his dominance to finish the contest by pocketing the game 21-7.

Earlier in the day, defending champion PV Sindhu crashed out of the tournament after suffering a straight-game defeat to Tai Tzu Ying in the quarter-finals.

Tai Tzu Ying defeated the shuttler from India 21-17, 21-13 in a clash that lasted 42 minutes to cruise into the semi-finals.

This was the 20th meeting between Sindhu and TTY. The shuttler from Chinese Taipei now has a 15-5 advantage against the two-time Olympic medallist Indian.