Happy to be in final of World C’ships, worked really hard for it: Srikanth after historic silver

Kidambi Srikanth’s fine run in the BWF World badminton Championship finished with a silver-medal after he went down fighting in the men’s singles summit clash against Singapore’s Loh Kean Yew in straight games in Huelva on Sunday.

Srikanth went down 15-21, 20-22 in 43 minutes in a match that was closely fought.

Former world number one Srikanth lost the first game after leading 9-3, as his opponent from Singapore staged a fine comeback. The Indian lost the first game in 16 minutes despite leading at the interval.

Srikanth fought brilliantly in the second game but Loh was too good on the day, emerging the winner.

The 24-year-old Loh had stunned world number one and reigning Olympic champion Viktor Axelsen in the first round of the men’s singles event at the prestigious championship and had been in marauding form since. He is the first Singaporean gold medallist at the event.

Nevertheless, Srikanth too etched his name in the history books by becoming the first Indian man to reach the finals of the championships after his come-from-behind win over compatriot Lakshya Sen on Saturday.

Here’s what Srikanth had to say after the final:

Emotions right now:

Definitely it has been a great week, even today I had my chances in both the sets. In the first…

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