By 
Former Junior World No.1 Sankar Muthusamy Subramanian assured India of a BWF World Junior Championships 2022 medal after reaching the men’s singles semi-finals in Santander, Spain on Friday.
18-year-old Subramanian, who is India’s highest-ranked junior men’s singles player at world No.4, defeated his Chinese opponent Hu Zhe An 21-18, 8-21, 21-16 in an hour and 31 minutes in the quarters after losing the second game one-sided to guarantee himself a podium finish. Both the losing semi-finalists win bronze medals at the junior world championships.
The Indian player started the match well but lost his grip in the second game to allow his Chinese opponent a way into the match. After winning the second game, Hu Zhen An looked confident and took a 6-4 lead. However, Subramanian bounced back and was at his best for the decider to wrap up the match with ease.
Subramanian will next face Thailand’s Panitchaphon Teeraratsakul in the semi-finals.
Sankar’s podium finish will be India’s 10th medal at the Badminton World Federation (BWF) World Junior Championships. Earlier, India had won one gold, three silvers and five bronze medals, all in singles in the tournament.
The previous medalists from India were Aparna Popat (Silver, 1996), Gurusai Dutt (Bronze, 2008), Saina Nehwal (Gold, 2008; Silver, 2006), Sai Praneeth (Bronze, 2010), HS Prannoy (Bronze, 2010), Sameer Verma (Bronze, 2011) Siril Verma (Silver, 2015), and Lakshya Sen (Bronze, 2018).
“It was quite tough. In the second game I was not in a good patch initially, so I slowed it down in the second since he was getting tired. Towards the middle of the third game his tiredness started showing and that was a boost for me,” Muthusamy told BWF.
“I’m fine for tomorrow’s match. I’m used to training for such long matches as I’m a defensive player, but I’ve also been trying to attack more,” he added.
Subramanian’s medal will also be India’s first at the junior world championships after Lakshya Sen’s bronze in 2018. Saina Nehwal won India’s only gold medal at the championships in 2008.
The BWF World Junior Championships were not held in 2020 and 2021 due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The ongoing 2022 edition of junior championships will conclude on October 30.
Comments