- KUALA LUMPUR — Indian
shuttler Kidambi Srikanth advanced to his first men’s singles final at a BWF
event in six years with a straight-game victory over Japan’s Yushi Tanaka at
the Malaysia Masters Super 500 badminton tournament on Saturday.
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- The 32-year-old, a silver medallist at the 2023 World
Championships, produced a stellar performance, displaying flashes of his
vintage form with sharp net play and aggressive shot-making to overcome world
No. 23 Tanaka 21-18, 24-22 in a gripping encounter.
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- This marks Srikanth’s first BWF World Tour final appearance
since he finished runner-up at the 2019 India Open. His last title came in
2017, a year which saw him lift four silverwares.
Also read: Malaysia Masters: Kidambi Srikanth battles into semis, lone Indian left in the draw
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- Once ranked world No. 1, Srikanth has slipped to 65th in the
rankings, having battled a dip in form and fitness in recent years.
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- Expressing his excitement of reaching the final after a
six-year hiatus, Srikanth said, "Pretty happy".
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- "Physically I've been feeling well, but also the fact
that I haven't played tonight or this last year, playing qualifying, so maybe
kind of lost that touch of playing matches. Somehow everything works well this
time.
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- "I haven't really planned anything. It's just about
being physically fit, being injury free, and then playing how many hours it's
possible. I don't really have a target of playing when it's done, so it's just
about training and being physically fit and then playing.
-
- "Obviously, if I played, I would have just played a
bit. So, I really want to give myself enough time to recover, to train, and
then play this time," Srikanth added.
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- Srikanth will now take on China's Li Shi Feng in the final
on Sunday. The head-to-head record between the two players favours the Chinese
with three wins in four encounters.
