Huelva (Spain), Dec 19 : Indian badminton ace and former world no.1 Kidambi Srikanth clinched the historic silver medal at the BWF World Championships here Today.

The 28-year-old shuttler become the first Indian male shuttler to win silver medal at the prestigious tournament. This was also Srikanth’s first medal at the World Championships.

Srikanth suffered 15-21, 20-22 defeat at the hands of Loh Kean Yew of Singapore in the men’s singles finals.

The Indian used his tactical approach in the beginning of the first game against Loh, whose lightning fast speed has been the highlight of this edition.

Despite some amazing shots, Loh didn’t manage to hold up the lead, and Srikanth took 5-point advantage at the time of interval 11-7.

After the break, Loh looked sensational and created a sign of worry for Srikanth with his well-placed smashes. The Singaporean then closed down the nets fast and bagged the first set with five point advantage, 21-15.

After the change of sides, with a close encounter between both the shuttlers, Loh went on to breather with 11-9 lead.

Couple of unforced errors from Srikanth gifted a two-point lead to Loh. Then, the Indian striked back with brilliant rallies and perfect net play, to take up 17-15 lead.

With balance of the game shifting, Srikanth lost two point at a crucial stage and the Singaporean took full advantage of it.

The 20-year-old Singaporean took 19-18 lead, Srikanth managed to save two match points and by levelling it 20-all. But again Srikanth committed unforced error and Loh won his maiden world title.

The Indian became the third male shuttler after Prakash Padukone (bronze in 1983) and Sai Praneeth (bronze in 2019) to win a medal at the BWF Worlds.

Overall, India now have won a total of 12 medals at the mega event.

Prakash Padukone (Bronze in 1983)

Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa (Bronze in 2011)

PV Sindhu (Bronze in 2013 and 2014)

Saina Nehwal (Silver 2015)

Saina Nehwal (Bronze 2017)

PV Sindhu (Silver in 2017 and 2018)

PV Sindhu (Gold in 2019)

B Sai Praneeth (Bronze in 2019)

Kidambi Srikanth (Silver in 2021)

Lakshya Sen (Bronze in 2021)(UNI)