Kidambi Srikanth Aims To "Get Better" After Badminton World Championships Silver Medal

The World Championships silver medal is a culmination of years of intense hard work, said India's Kidambi Srikanth after falling short of the top prize in Huelva on Sunday.

The BWF World Championships silver medal is a culmination of years of intense hard work, said India's Kidambi Srikanth after falling short of the top prize in Huelva on Sunday. Even before his 15-21 20-22 loss to Singapore's Loh Kean Yew in the men's singles final, the 28-year-old's silver medal made him the first-ever Indian man to achieve the feat at the marquee tournament. "In few tournaments, I played really well and in few tournaments I couldn't play well this year, but again, to reach the final of a world championship is something, that I really worked hard for, and I am really happy to be here today," Srikanth said.

"I will try to continue to work hard, it is a process and there are many other tournaments next year, like the Commonwealth Games, Asian Games, world championship, so it is a very big year, next year. So I will try to stay positive." Srikanth, currently ranked 14th in the world, had his moments but he squandered leads of 9-3 and 18-16 in the two games to see the coveted title slip out of his grasp.

"It has been a great week. Even today I had my chances in both the games. I had a healthy lead in first game and, even in second game, I had 18-16 cushion. I was not able to finish the match today. Loh played really well," he said.

"Lot of things to learn from this, so definitely I will work on this and try and get better for next tournaments." Talking about his mindset ahead of the final, Srikanth said: "Going into this match, I really wanted to be positive and not make mistakes. But sometimes it happens; one has to win, one has to lose.

"I tried to stay in the match, it kind of worked in second game but it is important to finish off the match, but yeah, it is something I will need to work on." Srikanth had defeated Loh the only time he met him three years ago, at the 2018 Commonwealth Games mixed team event.