Victor Lai of Canada secured a bronze medal in the men’s singles category at the badminton world championships held on Saturday. The 21-year-old athlete, hailing from Markham, Ontario, and seeded seventh, faced a defeat in the semifinals against the European champion, Alex Lanier from France, with a scoreline of 16-21, 21-13, 21-14 at the Indira Gandhi Arena in New Delhi. In this competition, both semifinalists not progressing to the final round are awarded bronze medals.
Last year, Lai made history by clinching Canada’s inaugural medal at a badminton world championship when he triumphed over the 2021 world champion, Loh Kean Yew of Singapore, in the quarterfinals held in Paris. This year, he managed to surpass Loh in the round of 16 and later defeated Rasmus Gemke from Denmark in the quarterfinals, securing his second world championship medal. Notably, Lai’s remarkable performances have propelled him from the 50th to the seventh position in the global rankings within the past year.