Badminton: Srikanth smashes his way past Lakshya into final of World Championships

Displaying immense character, seasoned Indian shuttler Kidambi Srikanth staged a remarkable comeback to down young compatriot Lakshya Sen 17-21 21-14 21-17 and enter the final of the BWF World Badminton Championships here on Saturday. Clashing swords in what was a historic match for Indian badminton, Srikanth raced to an early lead before his younger opponent pulled level at 2-2.

Displaying immense character, seasoned Indian shuttler Kidambi Srikanth staged a remarkable comeback to down young compatriot Lakshya Sen 17-21 21-14 21-17 and enter the final of the BWF World Badminton Championships here on Saturday. Clashing swords in what was a historic match for Indian badminton, Srikanth raced to an early lead before his younger opponent pulled level at 2-2. Two more points and Srikanth was in lead again. Then it was Sen's turn to briefly take an 8-7 lead but Srikanth immediately levelled it at 8-8. The 20-year Sen regained the lead and at 13-10, he was looking confident of maintaining the momentum, but Srikanth drew level at 16-16.

Sen dominated from thereon to grab the first game and wrest the initiative. However, Srikanth roared back into the contest with a flurry of smashes to take the second game and he continued in the same vein in the third game despite some fine defensive show by the 20-year-old to emerge winner in a match that lasted 69 minutes.