Indians create history, Tai Tzu Ying repels
The Day 4 of the TotalEnergies BWF World Championships was a historic day for the Indians as Srikanth Kidambi and Lakshya Sen won their quarterfinals matches and ensured a first-ever men’s singles spot at the season-ending championships.
Twelfth seed Kidambi Srikanth thumped Mark Caljouw 21-8, 21-7 in 26 minutes and Lakshya Sen fought long and hard to beat China’s Zhao Jun Peng, 21-15, 15-21, 22-20 to set up an all Indian semi-finals against Srikanth.
Lakshya said in the post-match interview, “I’m very happy, it was a pressure match. I credit him as well, he was playing at a good pace, even though he’d played long matches earlier. It was a tough and close match.”
The Chinese player was leading 19-20 in the last game. The Indian leveled the match with a backhand drive that caught Zhao by surprise, Lakshya leveled the match at 20 all and kept up the pressure.
“Both of us made some mistakes. Although I slipped, I managed to pull off a winner and I got a bit lucky at 20-all.” Lakshya said. “I haven’t played Srikanth in three years, it’s been a while, so it will be a good match. Let’s see who makes the final. India is assured of a finalist, so that’s a good thing. I will go all out.”
In the other important match, the world No.22 Loh Kean Yew became the first Singaporean to bag a medal at the World Championships. He ensured this after convincingly beating HS Prannoy in their quarterfinals match. Final score 21-14, 21-12.
Loh will play Denmark's Anders Antonsen in the semifinals. The third seed Anders Antonsen made it to the semis after his opponent Lee Zii Jia retired from the match due to a blister in his right foot.
The women’s world no.1 Tai Tzu Ying beat reigning world champion, PV Sindhu, 21-17, 21-13 and dispelled her world championships curse.
Olympic medal and World Championships medal that was missing from Tai’s scintillating career. The Chinese Taipei girl won a silver medal at the 2020 Olympics. The world championships have never been her favorite hunting ground. She has always fallen short.
After beating Sindhu, she ensured herself of a missing medal at the world championships.
Tai said, “The most important thing for me is to overcome my own limits, to try my best in every match. And when my fans support me, that will motivate me to reach higher.”
"In all my matches so far I have been patient, and that’s the biggest positive for me. For the next match against He Bing Jiao, it’s important to stay patient and not make mistakes. Sindhu is a very strong player and very fast, so I had to play fast too and cover the court well."