Sankar Muthusamy wins the Boy's Singles Silver Medal of the Chinese and Indonesian-dominated BWF World Junior Championship 2022 held at Santander, Spain, and it is India's tenth medal, third silver, and second Boy's Singles Silver from BWF World Junior Championship.
World No. 4 India's Sankar faught against the Chinese Taipei's KUO Kuan Lin and settles to silver in the boy's singles finals, 14-21, 20-22. Even though Lin's attacking and tactical skills were tested by Sankar by his defence and net skills, certain unforced errors costs Sankar's match. Earlier, Kuan Lin has surprised a defeat to World No.1 France Alex Lanier in the quarter-finals.
1 hour 31 mins minutes of a marathon decider in the quarterfinal, left-handed Indian Sankar Muthusamy had taken Hu Zhe An through slow punishing routines of precise deep clears and net-hugging drops to trouble his Chinese opponent’s big-hitting game. Sankar would be very comfortable in the semifinal against another exciting left-hander, Thailand's Panitchaphon Teeraratsakul.
“It was quite tough,” said the junior world No.4 after the quarterfinal. “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. 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.”
Photo Courtesy BWF Badminton
"It will give a lot of young people the confidence that a top-quality badminton player can come from any part of the country,” says Aravindan Samiappan, Sankar’s coach.
Indian medals from BWF World Junior Championship are,
1996 Aparna Popat Girl's Singles Bronze
2006 Saina Nehwal Girl's Singles Silver
2008 Saina Nehwal Girl's Singles Gold
2008 R.M.V. Gurusaidutt Boy's Singles Bronze
2010 Sai Praneeth Boy's Singles Bronze
2010 Prannoy K Boy's Singles Bronze
2011 Sameer Verma Boy's Singles Bronze
2015 Siril Verma Boy's Singles Silver
2018 Lakshya Sen Boy's Singles Bronze
2022 Sankar Muthusamy Boy's Singles Silver
"This win is very important because almost all the previous medallists came from the country's bigger academies. Sankar is from a small academy, in a state which doesn’t really have a tradition of badminton. People might think this is a flash in the pan, but it is a very significant moment. It will give a lot of people the confidence that a top-quality badminton player can come from any part of the country,” says Aravindan Samiappan, Sankar’s coach, Fireball Badminton Academy, Chennai.
All four medals of the Mixed Doubles event were bagged in dominance by China. SHEN Xuan Yao, CHN LI Qian and CHN YU Hao CHN QIN Hui Zhi won the Bronze medals. CHN ZHU Yi Jun, CHN LIU Sheng Shu W won gold by winning their counterpart CHN LIAO Pin Yi CHN HUANG Ke Xin W by 21-10, 18-21,21-10.
In Girl's Singles, Sorano YOSHIKAWA, Japan, and Ester Nurumi Tri, Indonesia won the Bronze medals. In the finals, Japan's 16-year-old Miyazaki faught against China's YUAN An Qi 21-14, 20-22, 21-18, and won the Gold.
