Indian shuttler Kidambi Srikanth on Saturday led to a storm in his first men’s singles final of a BWF event in six years with a direct game win over Yushi Tanaka of Japan at the Malaysia Masters Super 500 badminton tournament in Kuala Lumpur. The 32-year-old, the 2021 World Championship silver medalist, showed a great game, with a glimpse of his vintage self with a sharp net play and attacked Flair for World No. 23 Tanaka 21-18 24-22 in a thrilling competition. “I am very happy. It’s a while,” Srikanth said after the victory.
He will face the second seed Lee Shi Feng at the summit on Sunday.
This is Srikanth’s first last appearance on the BWF World Tour after completing the runner-up at the 2019 India Open.
A former world number one, Srikanth – currently ranked 65th – has tolerated a thick patch in the last few sessions due to form and fitness issues.
“Physically I am feeling well, but also the fact that I have not played a lot of matches last year, playing qualifying, so that touch of playing matches can be lost. And yes, everything worked this time.
He said, “I am working hard last month. This is just these victory, after a long time, this has been my feelings,” he said.
A naturally talented player, Srikanth became the first Indian to win four BWF titles in 2017 and then led the country in his first Commonwealth Games Gold at the Team event.
But his struggles started soon. Although he seemed to be in good touch in 2019, Srikanth missed the Tokyo Olympics due to a combination of injuries and cancellation of the qualifier due to the Kovid -19 epidemic.
He continued to suffer minor injuries, especially those related to the ankle, affecting their stability. He recovered timely to become the first Indian men shuttler to reach the finals of the 2021 World Championship in Spain.
He played an important role in India’s historic Thomas Cup Triumph in 2022, winning all his six matches before disappearing again.
Srikanth reached the quarter -finals in the Thailand Open Super 300 earlier this year, while his last semi -final performance came to the Swiss Open and Macau Open in 2023.
In the last three months, however, he passed through intensive training sessions, focused on fitness, and worked on injecting the speed in rallies under coach RMV Gurusudatta and Parupalli Kashyap’s attentive eyes.
Asked about his plans to move forward, Srikanth said: “I have not really planned anything. It is about physically fit, being hurt-free, and then play as many tournaments as possible. I don’t really have the goal of playing the next tournament this year.
“So it’s just about training and is about to be physically fit and obviously if I play, I will play to win clearly. I really want to give myself to heal, train and then play enough time to play at this time.” In the initial game, Srikanth made some errors trying to combat Tanaka’s speed and lagged behind 1–5.
With some straight straight slices and round-the-head smash, the Indian shut down the difference, but the Japanese kept a five-digit cushion with a crisp cross smash.
Srikanth gradually created rallies and forced the Japanese errors to make 8–9, although Tanaka gained a three-point lead in the break.
The Indian 14-All was leveled and took a 19–16 lead with brilliant cross-court returns. A down-line smash earned him two game points, and he converted to take the opener.
Tanaka again started firmly in the second game, leaving Srikanth some opportunities before 3–0 and 7-2 to 7-2.
But like the first game, Srikanth responded with aggression, reduced the deficit to 8–9 and level the score with a sharp net kiln.
Tanaka made soft errors because Srikanth proceeded from 13–10, but Japanese fought back to make it 17.
After an intensive fight, Srikanth earned a match point with a net error, but Tanaka saved the score level to leave at 20–20.
A tight net shot gave Srikanth a second match points, but Tanaka’s quick return made it 22. A backhand Push of Srikanth caught the line, and they sealed the match as Tanaka widened.
(Except for the headline, the story has not been edited by NDTV employees and is published by a syndicated feed.)
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