Kidambi Srikanth reaches first BWF final in six years after stunning win at Malaysia Masters

For 32-year-old Srikanth, currently ranked World No. 65, this marks his first final appearance on the BWF World Tour since finishing as runner-up at the 2019 India Open. His last title wins came in 2017, when he claimed four trophies. Reflecting on his performance, Srikanth admitted he couldn’t recall how long it had been since he last reached the final of a major tournament.

Hyderabad: Former World No.1 Kidambi Srikanth sailed into his first final of a BWF event after six years when he outplayed World No. 23 Tanaka 21-18, 24-22 in the semifinal of the Malaysia Masters badminton championship in Kuala Lumpur on Saturday.

For the 32-year-old Srikanth, ranked World No. 65, it will be his first final appearance on the BWF World Tour since finishing runner-up at the 2019 India Open. He last won four titles back in 2017.

Speaking after the match, Srikanth said he was not sure after how long he had entered the final of a major tournament.

“ I don’t know, I lost track of it. But, pretty happy,” he said.

“Physically I’ve been feeling well, but also the fact that I haven’t played two minutes of this last year. Playing qualifying, so maybe kind of lost that touch of playing matches. And yes, somehow everything worked out this time,” the champion shuttler said.

Questioned whether the Sudirman Cup mode is coming back, Srikanth said he didn’t know about that. “But,I’ve been working hard last month, very well. Yes, it’s just, you know, these wins, after a very long injury, that is what has been my emotions,” he said.

About the final, Srikanth said he hadn’t really planned anything.” It’s just about being physically fit, being injury free, and then playing as well as I can,” he said.

“ I don’t really have a target of playing the number of tournaments this year. So it’s just about training and being physically fit and then playing. So obviously if I play, I will obviously play to win,” Srikanth said.

“ I really want to give myself enough time to recover, to train, and then play this time,” he said.