Young Indian shuttler Siril Verma clinched a silver medal at the BWF World Junior Championships after suffering a narrow defeat against Chinese Taipei's Chia Hung Lu here.
The 15-year-old Indian, who trains at the Pullela Gopichand Academy, had a giant-killing run at the tournament where he defeated The Netherland's Niels Veenstra, France's Thomas Baures, Thailand's Kantaphon Wangcharoen, Denmark's Anders Antonsen, Malaysia's Satheishtharan R and Thailand's Adulrach Namkul to reach the finals.
But Siril could not cross the final hurdle as his fight ended with a 21-17 10-21 7-21 loss to Chia in a 50-minute battle at the Centro de Alto Rendimiento (CAR).
Siril, who had lost to Chia at the Badminton Asia Junior Championship in Bangkok in June, dominated the proceedings early on, leading 7-4 at one stage. But Chia clawed back with three points. The Indian then once again surged ahead to a 11-7 lead at the break.
After the interval, Chia slowly crafted his way to turn the tables, leading 15-12. However, Siril engaged in a tense fight and from 17-17, he broke off to pocket the opening game with a four-point burst.
In the second game, Chia looked a different opponent as he completely dominated the game and didn't give any chance whatsoever to the Indian to make any comeback. He lead from the start to end to roar back into the contest.
In the decider, things were no different as brimming with confidence, Chia zoomed ahead from 4-4 to a 9-6 lead and then marched ahead with giant steps as Siril's game crumbled.
With this medal, Siril now joins the elite list of Indians such as Saina Nehwal, PV Sindhu, RMV Gurusaidutt, HS Prannoy and Sameer Verma, who have won medals for India in the Junior World Championships.
Last month, Siril was left frustrated after he could not participate at the Asian Junior U-17 & U-15 Championship in Indonesia as he was declared overage by the doctors at the Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital, following an age determination tests conducted at the behest of SAI. Later he was cleared by the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS).
