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Kidambi Srikanth is happy with his performance despite losing to Li Shi Feng in the Malaysia Masters final, marking his first BWF World Tour final in six years.
Indian badminton star Kidambi Srikanth (PTI)
Star India shuttler Kidambi Srikanth has said that having finished runners-up at his third tournament of the year gives him a good feeling, and he is ‘pretty happy’ with his performance this week, although it ended with a thrashing at the hands of China’s Li Shi Feng in the final of the Malaysia Masters.
Srikanth, who charted a long road back from injuries and missed chances, made his first BWF World Tour final in six years on Saturday, March 24, beginning from the qualifiers and riding a resurgent wave to the summit clash.
Srikanth was erratic and neither could he break through Feng’s solid defence, nor was he able to convert openings, losing 11-21, 9-21 in 36 minutes.
“It has been a pretty good week. It’s my third tournament, played decently well in the first two as well, but couldn’t really win those matches. But pretty happy with the way it went so far,” Srikanth said after the match.
“Not exactly the way I wanted to be today, but still, I think he (Feng) played well. I’m just very happy to be back playing again. I just want to keep myself happy. There was a point in my career where I was pretty used to being standing there, and then it’s been a while,” Srikanth added.
Despite the defeat to Feng, it was an inspirational show from the star Indian shuttler, who, after slipping to world no. 82 in May, showcased grit and class to remind the world of his capability.
Srikanth is currently ranked 65th and is expected to climb up the rankings after his show this week.
Srikanth was error-prone in the initial exchanges, gifting away points that permitted Feng to pull ahead 6-3.
A straight smash to Srikanth’s backhand took the Chinese to 8-5, and although the former replied with a 402kph thunderbolt, a netted smash gave Feng a five-point cushion going into the mid-game interval.
Srikanth showed glimpses of brilliance with a net kill and a swift forehand cross to trail 10-16, but could not string together momentum.
Meanwhile, in winning the title, Feng became the first Chinese men’s singles shuttler to win the Malaysia Masters since the tournament’s inception 16 years back.
Srikanth’s name doesn’t feature in next week’s Singapore Open draw, although Priyanshu Rajawat, Kiran George, HS Prannoy and Lakshya Sen will feature.
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