Badminton / Kidambi Srikanth Stuns World No. 9 Victor Lai, Reaches China Masters Quarterfinals

Shenzhen, Sep 3: India’s Kidambi Srikanth marched into the quarterfinals of the at the China Masters Super 750 badminton tournament Thursday, producing a stunning performance against world No. 9 Canadian Victor Lai in the men’s singles event.

The former world No. 1 and 2021 World Championships silver medallist registered a straight-games victory, 21-18, 21-19, over Lai, who is a bronze medallist at the last two BWF World Championships.

Srikanth has been in strong form in China, having opened his campaign with a confident 21-16, 21-15 win against Chinese Taipei’s world No. 21 Chi Yu-jen in just 35 minutes. He will next face Lee Cheuk Yiu of Hong Kong, who advanced after beating Toma Popov in the Round of 16.

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This marks Srikanth’s second quarter-final appearance of the season, following his runner-up finish at the US Open in June. His resurgence is being closely watched as he aims to regain consistency on the international circuit.

Meanwhile, India’s challenge in the women’s singles ended as Tanvi Sharma lost to Japan’s Tomoka Miyazaki 17-21, 21-18, 16-21. In mixed doubles, Dhruv Kapila and Tanisha Crasto were beaten by Taipei’s Liu Kuang Heng and Hsu Yin-Hui.

Later in the day, India’s world No. 5 men’s doubles pair Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty will face French duo Cristo Popov and Toma Junior Popov. The pair began their campaign with a commanding 21-11, 21-16 win over Malaysia’s Junaidi Arif and Kang Khai Xing.

Earlier, Devika Sihag bowed out of women’s singles, while in mixed doubles, Rohan Kapoor and Ruthvika Shivani Gadde lost to Taipei’s Wu Guan Xun and Lee Chia Hsin.

(IANS)