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).
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. Among them, Saina is the only one to win the world junior title.
Last month, Siril was left frustrated after he could not participate at the Asian Junior Under 17 & Under 15 Championship in Indonesia as he was declared overage by the doctors at the Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital, following age determination tests conducted at the behest of SAI.
Later he was cleared by the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS).Gopichand said he was very pleased with Siril’s progress.
"Siril is very talented but also a hardworking boy. He has been training at my academy from a very young age,” said Gopi. “It is a great achievement for him to reach the World Championship final. The way he has progressed is very satisfying,” added the Indian coach.