Kidambi Srikanth beats Victor Lai in Shenzhen; advances to quarter-finals

China Masters 2026 badminton: Kidambi Srikanth stuns Victor Lai to enter quarter-finals

Victor Lai is a two-time BWF World Championships medallist and world No. 9 while the Indian shuttler, who won the match in straight games, is currently ranked 34th.

Former world No. 1 Kidambi Srikanth stunned two-time BWF World Championships medallist Victor Lai to enter men’s singles quarter-finals at the China Masters 2026 badminton tournament in Shenzhen on Thursday.

India’s Kidambi Srikanth, 34th in the badminton rankings , beat Canada’s world No. 9 Victor Lai 21-18, 21-19 in the second round.

Kidambi trailed 7-3 early on before fighting back to level the opening game at 8-8. The Canadian edged ahead to lead 15-11, but the Indian responded with five successive points, moving to 18-16 and sealing the opener on his second game point.

In the second game, Kidambi Srikanth initially trailed again at 14-9, but mounted another comeback to level at 18-18 before holding his nerve to close out the contest in straight games.

However, India’s women’s singles campaign at the BWF Super 750 badminton tournament came to an end after Tanvi Sharma lost 21-17, 18-21, 21-16 against Japan’s Tomoka Miyazaki.

In the opening game, Tanvi Sharma and Tomoka Miyazaki were locked at 7-7 before the Japanese shuttler reeled off nine consecutive points to seize control.

Tanvi Sharma then fought back to cut the deficit to 18-17, but Tomoka Miyazaki won the next three points to clinch the opener.

The second game saw Tanvi Sharma race to an 8-2 lead before Tomoka Miyazaki found her rhythm to close the gap to 11-10 at the interval.

The Indian badminton player then shifted gears after the break, bringing up five game points before converting her fourth to win the game and force a decider

The decider was just as tightly contested, with the scores tied at 11-11 before Tomoka Miyazaki produced a decisive five-point burst to open up a four-point cushion en route to sealing the win.

Elsewhere, world No. 5 duo Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty of India progressed to the men’s doubles quarter-finals after a 21-17, 22-24, 21-9 win over Christo Popov and Toma Junior Popov of France.

Meanwhile, India’s mixed doubles pair of Dhruv Kapila and Olympian Tanisha Crasto lost their second round match 21-18, 21-18 against Liu Kuang-Heng and Hsu Yin-Hui of the Chinese Taipei.

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