Kidambi Srikanth turned back the clock in spectacular fashion, battling past Japan’s Yushi Tanaka 21-18, 23-21 in a heart-pounding semi-final at the Malaysia Masters on Saturday.

The 32-year-old Indian badminton star, once the world’s best, is now headed to his first BWF World Tour final since 2019—a moment that feels like a triumphant homecoming for fans who’ve cheered him through thick and thin.

Srikanth, who had slipped to world number 82 earlier this month, battled through the qualifiers to reach the main draw of the tournament. Srikanth's journey to the final has been nothing short of inspiring, as he outclassed higher-ranked opponents with a combination of determination and resilience.

Read Also | India’s Next Badminton Superstar: The Rising Stars to Watch in 2025

The tightly contested match against Tanaka saw Srikanth hold his nerve in crunch moments, particularly in the second game, where he edged out a 23-21 victory after a very close finish.

KIDAMBI SRIKANTH HAS DONE IT 🤯🥹

- First BWF Final for him in 6 Year! pic.twitter.com/Op7XhNE5yj

— The Khel India (@TheKhelIndia) May 24, 2025

This achievement marks a significant comeback for the Indian shuttler, who has faced challenges with form and rankings in recent years. His last BWF final appearance was at the 2019 India Open against Viktor Axelsen, and this achievement in Kuala Lumpur signals a potential return to his peak form.

Srikanth will now face either Kodai Naraoka of Japan or China's Li Shi Feng in the final, as he aims to clinch his first title since the 2017 French Open.

I'M CRYING 😭❤️

Srikanth Kidambi Into The Finals Of BWF Malaysia Masters 2025 !!!

Srikanth Kidambi Defeats Yushi Tanaka In Straight Games
🇮🇳 21-18 , 24-22 🇯🇵

Final vs Kodai Naraoka 🇯🇵 / Li Shi Feng 🇨🇳
Goodluck For The Finals Srikanth ❤️✨#MalaysiaMasters2025 pic.twitter.com/jUzvlkPAAV

— Badminton Media (@BadmintonMedia1) May 24, 2025

The 29th edition of the BWF World Championships 2025, officially known as the TotalEnergies BWF World Championships 2025, was held from 25th to 31st August 2025 at the Adidas Arena, Paris, France. This was the first time since 2010 that Paris hosted the championship. The tournament featured 383 competitors from 53 nations and witnessed historic victories across categories.

SHI Yu Qi of China won his first-ever World Championship crown, defeating defending champion Kunlavut Vitidsarn of Thailand in the men's singles final. His earlier notable achievement was a runner-up finish at the 2018 BWF World Championships.

Also Read: Best Indian Performances in Olympic History

On the other hand, Japan’s Akane Yamaguchi clinched her third World Championship title in the women's singles category, defeating China’s CHEN Yu Fei. She previously won in 2021 and 2022, and now equals Spain’s Carolina Marin’s record of three titles.

South Korea’s Kim Won Ho and Seo Seung Jae won their first Men’s Doubles World Championship title, defeating Chen Bo Yang and Liu Yi of China. Seo Seung Jae had earlier secured Men’s Doubles and Mixed Doubles titles in the 2023 BWF World Championships.

In the women’s doubles, Liu Sheng Shu and Tan Ning of China won their maiden world title by defeating Malaysia’s Pearly Tan and Thinaah Muralitharan. This marks China’s 24th Women’s Doubles title out of 29 editions.

Meanwhile, Chen Tang Jie and Toh Ee Wei created history by defeating China’s Jiang Zhenbang and Wei Yaxin in the mixed doubles.

BWF World Championships 2025: India's Performance

Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty were the only medal winners in the championship. They won the bronze medal in men’s doubles after losing to China’s Chen Bo Yang and Liu Yi in the semifinals. Earlier in the event, they assured India a medal by defeating Malaysia’s Aaron Chia and Soh Wooi Yik (two-time Olympic medallists). This was their second World Championship medal after the 2022 bronze, extending India’s medal streak since 2011.

On the other hand, two-time Olympic medalist PV Sindhu lost to Indonesia’s Putri Kusuma Wardani in the quarter finals and failed to achieve her 6th championship medal. Sindhu remains India’s most successful shuttler, with 5 BWF World Championship medals, including India’s only gold in 2019 (Basel, Switzerland).

Also Read: 10 Indian Women Who Made Olympic History

BWF World Championships 2025: Meda Tally

Two-time Olympic medallist PV Sindhu has made it to the quarter-finals of the BWF World Championships after she knocked out World No. 2 Wang Zhi Yi of China in straight games in the women's singles round of 16 match on Thursday.

Also Read: India’s Next Badminton Superstar: The Rising Stars to Watch in 2025

PV Sindhu (WR: 15) wins against Wang Zhi Yi (WR: 2) in STRAIGHT GAMES! 😱

She will face Indonesia's Putri Kusuma Wardani in the quarter-finals 💪

➡️ Read more: https://t.co/qaC42cLT79 pic.twitter.com/fUHmek1DlX

— ESPN India (@ESPNIndia) August 28, 2025

Sindhu dominates against World No. 2

Sindhu maintained her dominance against Wang Zhi Yi. She defeated Wang for the third time in the 5th head to head match. Sindhu was the underdog against Wang, who was coming off a title triumph at the China Open last month.

World No. 15 Sindhu won the first game by a margin of 21-19 after a tough fight. After winning the first game, Sindhu took a lead of 12-6 in the second game as well. She maintained this lead and won the match by winning the second game by a margin of 21-15. 

Sindhu continued her perfect run in the tournament

With this win, PV Sindhu continued her perfect run in the tournament. She has not dropped a single game in her three matches so far. The two-time Olympic medallist is now just one win away from securing her sixth World Championships medal.

For Sindhu, this victory also marks her first quarter-final appearance at the World Championships since her title-winning run six years ago. It also sends a strong message to rivals that the seasoned campaigner is far from done on the big stage.

Also Read: Puma ropes in PV Sindhu as brand ambassador

Sindhu to face Wardani in the quarters

Sindhu will now take on World No. 9 Putri Kusuma Wardani of Indonesia in the last eight. Sindhu has faced her four times and won twice.

The 23-year-old Wardani has been in good form this year, having won 27 matches and lost only 12 games. Sindhu, on the other hand, has lost 12 games in 2025 and won just nine. Wardani’s best performances this year have been third-place finishes at the Thailand Masters and Swiss Open.

Ayush Shetty won his maiden Super 300 title by winning the men's singles title at the BWF US Open 2025. Meanwhile, 16-year-old sensation Tnavi Sharma finished runner-up in women's singles.

Ayush defeated Canada's Brian Yang in straight games 21-13, 21-18 to lift the title. Shetty became the 5th Indian men's singles shuttler to win a Super 300+ title after Lakshya Sen, HS Prannoy, Priyanshu Rajawat, and Sameer Verma.

After 8 years, India won a title at the US Open in any discipline since H.S. Prannoy won in 2017. 

However, it was not a perfect end for 16-year-old Tanvi Sharma as she faced a heartfelt defeat against home favourite and No. 1 seed Beiwen Zhang of the USA 11-21, 21-16, 21-10 in the finals. 

Tanvi, who is now the youngest player ever to reach the final of any Super 300 tournament, had won all the sets until the final. She had defeated WR23, WR58, WR50 & WR40 to reach the final. 

🚨𝑩𝑹𝑬𝑨𝑲𝑰𝑵𝑮 🏸

🇮🇳Ayush Shetty won his maiden BWF Super300 title, winning the US Open 2025.

He defeated 🇨🇦Brian Yang in straight games 21-13, 21-18!#USOpen #Badminton #BadmintonIndia pic.twitter.com/BPDdF8a8Kr

— Sportz Point (@sportz_point) June 30, 2025

Indian star shuttler PV Sindhu has been eliminated from the Indonesia Open 2025 badminton tournament after losing in the round of 16. She was defeated badly by Thailand's Pornpawee Chochuwong in the pre-quarterfinals on Thursday.

Sindhu shows tremendous fight in first two games

PV Sindhu started the match brilliantly. She won the first game 22-20. She did not give any chance to the opponent to recover in this game. Pornpawee Chochuwong had no answer to Sindhu's aggressive returns as the score read 10-16 in favour in the first game. However, the tables turned completely in the second game.

Where Sindhu looked set to lose the first game, she pulled it right back in to clinch it, as the score read 22-20. After winning the first game, where Sindhu hoped to capitalise, Chochuwong was quick to turn it around, dominating Sindhu in the game, winning it by 21-10; furthermore, she went on to win the third game by 21-18, as Sindhu was eliminated from the Indonesia Open 2025 badminton tournament.

Satwik-Chirag enter quarterfinals

On the other hand, Indian men’s doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty came back from a game down to notch up a win to enter the quarterfinals of the Indonesia Open 2025.

Satwik-Chirag beat Denmark’s Rasmus Kjaer and Frederik Sogaard 16-21, 21-18, 22-20 in a match lasting one hour and eight minutes in the BWF Super 1000 tournament.

Treesa-Gayatri lost

The women’s doubles duo Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand also lost 13-21, 22-24 to Yuki Fukushima and Mayu Matsumoto of Japan in the round of 16 stage.

In mixed doubles, Sathish Karunakaran and Aadya Variyath exited after a straight-game loss against Thailand’s Dechapol Puavarankuroh and Supissara Paewsampran. The scoreline read 21-7, 21-12 in favour of the Thai shuttlers, who wrapped up the match in just 25 minutes.

The Indian men's doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty performed brilliantly in the Singapore Open 2025 badminton tournament, making it to the semifinals with a straight-game win over world No. 1 Malaysian duo of Goh Sze Fei and Nur Izzuddin on Friday.

Also Read : Kidambi Srikanth Stuns Yushi Tanaka to Reach Malaysia Masters Final, First Since 2019

The Indian pair, which has been facing fitness challenges for some time, showed excellent performance in this match. The Indian pair displayed rock-solid defence and controlled the front court with precision to register a 21-17, 21-15 win in a 39-minute quarterfinal clash at the Singapore Open 2025 Super 750 badminton tournament.

Third semifinal of the season

This is their third semifinal appearance of the season, having reached the last-four stage at both the Malaysia and India Open earlier this year.

The former world No. 1 Indians held a 6-2 head-to-head record against the Malaysians going into the match, although they had lost their most recent meeting at the India Open.

Match Report

The match began with two service faults in the first four points and featured short rallies as both pairs looked to execute angled returns and attack at the earliest opportunity. As a result, the score moved evenly from 1-1 to 7-7 before the Indians gained a three-point cushion at the interval, with Satwik dictating the serve and third shot.

The Indian pair maintained the pressure to go up 15-11 before Satwik committed a service error and Izzuddin unleashed a jump smash to narrow the gap to 13-15. A brutal forehand smash from Satwik pushed India ahead at 18-15. Izzuddin then hit one wide, and Chirag, who had earlier sent a shot long, redeemed himself with a straight smash to earn three game points.

Goh buried a service return into the net, handing the Indians the opening game and the early advantage. Chirag made a few errors early in the second game, but the Indians did well to keep pace in the high-speed exchanges, with the score level at 6-6.

Satwik and Chirag then reeled off four consecutive points before an unforced error halted their momentum. A body blow from Chirag forced a weak return from Izzuddin into the net, giving India a four-point lead at the interval. A sharp backhand at the net took the Indians to 15-9 after the break. Satwik then sent down a thunderous smash to make it 16-10.

Though the Indians committed a few unforced errors, Satwik produced another fierce return to earn five match points. They sealed the win after another error from their opponents.