Jr Worlds silver for shuttler Siril Verma

Lima (Peru): Young Hyderabad 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, who trains at the Pullela Gopichand Badminton Academy, enjoyed a giant-killing run at the tournament where he defeated Dutchman Niels Veenstra, France’s Thomas Baures, Thailand’s Kantaphon Wangcharoen, Denmark’s Anders Antonsen, Malaysia’s Satheishtha-ran R. and Thailand’s Adulrach Namkul on his way to the final.

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. Siril, who had lost to Chia at the Badminton Asia Junior Championships 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 turned 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 Siril 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 who have won medals for India at the junior Worlds such as Saina Nehwal, P.V. Sindhu, R.M.V. Guru Sai Dutt, H.S. Prannoy and Sameer Verma.