On Indian Independence Day, the country’s top male shuttler, Srikanth Kidambi, brought smiles to the entire nation by progressing to the quarter-finals of the men’s singles badminton event at the Rio Olympics.
The 11th ranked Indian caused a huge upset by toppling the World No. 5 Jan Jorgensen of Denmark, 21-19, 21-19 in the Round of 16 clash.
Kidambi next faces two-time Olympic champion Lin Dan. The 23-year-old from Guntur can find inspiration from his last meeting with the Chinese legend, where he upset Dan to clinch the China Open in 2014.
The Indian soon surged to an 11-9 lead at the mid-game interval and looked to be in complete control of the opening game as Jorgensen found it hard to keep up with Kidambi’s dazzling pace. The Dane did manage to reduce the gap later on and make it 17-18 but his opponent was too determined.
There was no reprieve from Kidambi who sealed the first game before Jorgensen soared to 17-14 lead in the second. But just when the tie seemed to be heading to a decider, Srikanth started exuding his brilliance once more.
Taking the next three points, he first equalled the score at 17-17, before wrapping up the match in 42 minutes.
This is the second time that any men’s singles player from India had reached the Olympics quarter-finals after Parupalli Kashyap made the cut at the London Games in 2012.