Kidambi Srikanth is at it again! The 24-year-old Indian shuttler has successfully carried his good form into the biggest badminton tournament of the year -- BWF World Championships 2017.
Good win today against the in form Danish player. Feels like getting better by match. #WorldChampionships2017 #teamindia #believe #achieve pic.twitter.com/w8N9JytCLb
— Kidambi Srikanth (@srikidambi) August 24, 2017
The eighth seed has not dropped a game enroute to the quarter-final stage of the ongoing world meet. Srikanth was unfazed by a tricky challenge from 14th seed Anders Antonsen as he just needed 42 minutes to clinch a 21-14, 21-18 win and oust the Dane from the tournament on Thursday, August 24.
Srikanth now is a win away from confirming his maiden World Championships medal as he will be in action in the last-eight match in the morning session in Glasgow on Friday, August 25.
The world number eight though faces a stiff test as he is all set to take on world number one Son Wan Ho for a spot in the semi-final.
Notably, the Korean superstar is the top seed at the tournament and he has lived up to his tag, holding his nerves to outclass Thailand shuttler Tanongsak Saensomboonsuk in a three-game thriller on Thusday.
The quarter-final match will start at 10am local/2:30pm IST
Srikanth's bunny
Srikanth has beaten Son twice in 2017 already.
The Indian shuttler came back from behind after losing the second game to outclass the South Korean at the Indonesia Open semi-final 21-15, 14-21, 24-22. The match extended to an hour and 12 minutes as Kidambi went progressed to the final, which he won, beating Kazumasa Sakai of Japan.
The two shuttlers met once again, at Australian Open in July. Srikanth, once again, slipped early but made a strong comeback to take the R16 match 15-21, 21-13, 21-13.
With the two back-to-back wins, Srikanth was also able to take his head-to-head record over Son to 4-4.
Srikanth will start the match as favourite despite Son's top world ranking as the Indian shuttler has been the most consistent Men's singles player on the circuit, winning two Superseries titles [Indonesia and Australia] and finishing as runner-up at Singapore Open.
On the other hand, Son will look to use his experience of having been in the final stages of big competitions to good effect. The 29-year-old will have to be at his best to ward off Srikanth, who has considerably improved in both his defensive and attacking abilities in the recent months.
"It was a tough match but I am already looking forward to tomorrow. This is one of the biggest tournaments of the year and I want to do well," Son said, after his win over Saensomboonsuk, as quoted by the BWF's official website.
Live streaming and TV Coverage
Global Live streaming will be available on BWF's official YouTube channel
India: TV: Star Sports 1/1 HD. Live streaming: Hotstar
UK: TV: BBC. Live streaming: BBC Sport
Malaysia: TV: Astro Supersport. Live streaming: Astro Go
China: TV: LETV, CCTV 5+
Singapore: TV: StarHub. Live streaming: StarHub Go
Live scores can be followed here.
