Kidambi Srikanth finally gets his World Championship 2021 revenge
Defeats Loh Kean Yew 21-14, 21-15 at Thailand Open, for the first time in 8 years in the week he re-enters Top 30
FILE - Indian shuttler Kidambi Srikanth in action. (Express Photo) That one win could’ve changed the trajectory of his career, though Kidambi Srikanth had come up against Loh Kean Yew who was the hurricane of Huelva at that World Championship in Spain circa 2021, with his speedy game.
Five years on, Srikanth finally defeated the Singaporean, who was eighth seed at the Thailand Open, leading start to finish, first point to last, in a low stakes breeze of a win, that makes badminton watchable in a standalone way.
The Indian, now 33, was pumped up alright against the 28-year-old, a freakish player who won the World’s and then not much else. But in his hailstorm of slam bang smashes at Huelva, with not much else in his game, he had denied the Indian a second World title for India.
Srikanth, who had defeated Loh only once before in their 4 meetings at Commonwealth games in 2018, had subsequently lost to him at the World’s 21-15, 22-20, in a typical belated rally in the second set. He lost again at Denmark in straight sets a year later, before a 3 set loss at the Asian Championship Round of 32.
When the win finally came at Thailand, it was a walk in the park for the Indian who jauntily bounced around the court and smashed at will. Just the once, Loh defended astonishingly as Srikanth rained down 5 different smash attempts, and the Indian allowed him to come up from 9-19 to 13-19, with a blitz, but Srikanth was strolling by then.
Srikanth, who has re-entered Top 30, plays Taiwanese Su Li Yang, ranked No 47. Srikanth had fallen out of Top 50 last July.
He led the seniors’ charge at Thailand, even as PV Sindhu advances to round 2 with a 21-9, 21-12 win over Tung Ciou-Tong. Lakshya Sen, seeded 7th, and in with a chance to get back in Top 10, hammered Jia Heng Jason Teh, 21-16, 21-17. He could run into Chinese Zhu Cuan Chen.
Ayush Shetty lost steam against sixth seed Kodai Naraoka, losing 13-21, 21-17, 4-21, in a clear pointer to poor third set fitness, while Tharun Mannepalli never got going against Koki Watanabe, losing 21-12, 21-16.
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