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Former World No. 1 Kidambi Srikanth will be within touching distance of his first BWF World Championships medal on Friday when he takes on Dutch veteran Mark Caljouw in the quarterfinals in Huelva, Spain.
Srikanth has never been past the last-eight stage at this prestigious tournament before. But this time he has a realistic chance of correcting that record.
The resurgent Indian is getting closer and closer to his best form with each match. Gone are the tentative strokes and lack of confidence that have impeded his progress in the past few months.
He now looks healthy, happy and eager to make up for lost time.
It was evident when the World No. 14 made back-to-back semifinals at the Hylo Open and the Indonesia Masters last month. Srikanth has now carried that self-belief into Huelva.
At the ongoing BWF World Championships, he has won three matches in a row, with two of them being straight-game victories.
Srikanth's most recent win will give him loads of reasons to feel happy about. With a 21-10, 21-15 scoreline, he showed the exit door to giant-killer Lu Guang Zu, who had accounted for three-time world junior champion Kunlavut Vitidsarn and fourth seed Chou Tien Chen in the past couple of rounds.
But what was most satisfactory was watching vintage Srikanth back in action after a long time. His net-play, attack, speed and footwork were all top notch, harking back to the days when the Indian would rule the Superseries circuit.
After such a commanding performance, the 28-year-old would surely be keen to make the most of his opportunity to land a highly-coveted BWF World Championships medal.
He needs just one more win and that too against World No. 28 Mark Caljouw in a field that has witnessed an exodus of top names in the last few days.
However, the Dutchman is, by no means, a pushover. The 26-year-old has tons of experience and has maintained a steady presence in the world's top 30.
He also knocked the 2019 BWF World Championships bronze medalist Sai Praneeth out of the tournament in the first round.
But with Srikanth beginning to look deadly once again, it might just be too uphill a task for Caljouw to replicate the same against the India No. 1.
BWF World Championships 2021: Match details
Fixture: (12) Kidambi Srikanth vs Mark Caljouw
Head-to-head: Kidambi Srikanth and Mark Caljouw have never squared off on the tour before, so their head-to-head stands at a 0-0 deadlock.
Date: December 17, 2021
Time: Approx 10:45 am local time, 3:15 pm IST
Tournament: TotalEnergies BWF World Championships 2021
Round: Quarterfinals
Venue: Huelva, Spain
Category: Grade 1- Individual Tournaments
BWF World Championships 2021: TV schedule
The BWF World Championships 2021 will be telecast live on the Star Sports 3 and Star Sports 2 HD TV channels in India.
BWF World Championships 2021: Live streaming details
The BWF World Championships 2021 can be live-streamed on the Disney+Hotstar app.
