Bukit Jalil [Malaysia], May 25 : Indian World Championships silver medalist shuttler Kidambi Srikanth missed out on the Malaysia Masters title, losing to China's Li Shi Feng in the title clash at Bukit Jalil on Sunday.
Kidambi, a former world number one, lost his first final in six years by 11-21, 9-21 in two successive games.
The former world number one has not secured a Badminton World Federation (BWF) World Tour title yet, having been a runners-up in India Open back in 2019.
Other than that, he won the historic Thomas Cup gold with Team India in 2022, a silver medal in men's singles at the 2021 World Championships, four Commonwealth Games medals, including gold in mixed team competition back in 2018, a men's team silver in the Asian Games Hangzhou 2022 among other accomplishments.
The Badminton Association of India (BAI) on their X posted about his loss in the final, "He may have missed the title, but @srikidambi rediscovered something deeper -- belief, hunger, and a spark that could lift Indian badminton to new heights. After 6 years, he didn't just reach a final -- he reminded himself who he truly is. Surely this is the start of something bigger and better. Let's go."
https://x.com/BAI_Media/status/1926544940282053052
Currently ranked 65th in the badminton rankings, Srikanth defeated world No. 23 Yushi Tanaka 21-18, 24-22 in a hard-fought semi-final contest which lasted 49 minutes.
This was Srikanth's first semi-final appearance of the year. His last top-four finish on the BWF World Tour was at the Swiss Open Super 300 in March 20.
Earlier in the quarterfinals, Srikanth won over France's Toma Junior Popov and advanced to the semi-finals.
Srikanth came from behind in the decider to register a gritty 24-22, 17-21, 22-20 win over world No. 18 Popov in a match that lasted one hour and 14 minutes on Friday.