Prime Minister Narendra Modi congratulated Indian badminton star Kidambi Srikanth on winning a ‘historic’ silver at the World Badminton Championships.
“Congratulations to Kidambi Srikanth for winning a historic silver medal. This win will inspire several sportspersons and further interest in badminton,” PM Modi tweeted.
The former world No. 1 scripted history by becoming the first Indian male shuttler to claim a silver medal in the World Badminton Championships, losing to Singapore’s Loh Kean Yew in the men’s singles final on Sunday. The 28-year old Srikanth lost 15-21, 20-22 to his opponent Loh in a 43-minute summit clash to settle for a silver.
“In few tournaments, I played really well and in few tournaments I couldn’t play well this year, but again, to reach the final of a world championship is something, that I really worked hard for, and I am really happy to be here today,” Srikanth said after the historic medal.
“I will try to continue to work hard, it is a process and there are many other tournaments next year, like the Commonwealth Games, Asian Games, world championship, so it is a very big year, next year. So I will try to stay positive.”
Kidambi also said he got to ‘learn a lot’ from a ‘great week’.
“It has been a great week. Even today I had my chances in both the games. I had a healthy lead in first game and, even in second game, I had 18-16 cushion. I was not able to finish the match today. Loh played really well,” he said.
“Lot of things to learn from this, so definitely I will work on this and try and get better for next tournaments.”
Previously, legendary Prakash Padukone (bronze in 1983) and B Sai Praneeth (bronze in 2019) were the medal winners in men’s singles while the 20-year-old Lakshya Sen joined the elusive list on Saturday after losing to Srikanth in a nail-biting semi-final clash.
The maiden silver also put Srikanth alongside PV Sindhu and Saina Nehwal. Sindhu had won the coveted gold in 2019, two silver and two bronze, while Saina bagged the silver at the 2015 Jakarta and a bronze at 2017 Glasgow.
It was the first final since the 2019 India Open for Srikanth, who has been troubled by fitness issues and lack of form in the last few years.
(With inputs from Agencies)
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