Kidambi Srikanth in action.© AFP
Friday, former world n ° 1 Kidambi Srikanth produced a courageous performance to reserve his place in the semi-finals of the badminton tournament of Malaysia Masters 2025 in Bukit Jalil. In a quarter-final male clipping nail confrontation, Srikanth has exceeded France n ° 18 in the world Toma Junior Popov 24-22, 17-21, 22-20 during a marathon meeting which lasted an hour and 14 minutes. Currently classified 65th in the world, Srikanth had to deeply dig into the decisive game after dragging on the game’s break. With his brand resilience, the Indian nave that has climbed back to win his fourth game in six games against Popov and secure his first appearance in the semi-finals of the season.
This marks the best result of Srikanth on the BWF World Tour since its semi-final at the Swiss Open Super 300 in March 2024. The Indian started the match strongly, heading for an advance of 7-4 in the opening match. However, Popov recovered quickly and even held a game point at 21-20. Srikanth showed his composure to turn the tables and win the match 24-22.
The second match saw the momentum trigger while Popov entered the break with a four -point cushion. Srikanth managed to level the scoring at 15 but could not maintain the tempo, finally conceding the 17-21 match.
In the decision maker, Srikanth again found himself four points behind in the interval in the middle of the game. But showing an enormous consciousness of grain and courtyard, he set up an inspired return to survive Popov in a tense finish and to go to the last four.
Srikanth had previously beaten the Irish world number 33 Nhat Nguyen in pre -quartments. He will now face the world’s n ° 22 of Japan Yushi Tanaka in the semi-finals on Saturday. Tanaka had previously eliminated the Prannoy HS of India in the round of 16.
Meanwhile, the hopes of Mixed Double of India ended in the quarter -finals. Tanisha Crasto and Dhruv Kapila fell into combat 22-24, 13-21 at Jiang Zhenbang in China and Wei Yaxin, bronze medalists at the 2023 world championships.
With their release, Srikanth remains the only Indian player who remains in the running at the BWF Super 500 tournament.
(With the exception of the title, this story has not been published by NDTV staff and is published from a unionized flow.)
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