Canada’s Victor Lai secured the men’s singles bronze medal at the badminton world championships for the second consecutive year. The 21-year-old athlete, hailing from Markham, Ontario and seeded seventh, faced a defeat in the semifinals against European champion Alex Lanier of France with a scoreline of 16-21, 21-13, 21-14 at the Indira Gandhi Arena in New Delhi.
Participants who do not progress to the final round in the semifinals are awarded bronze medals. Lai made history by clinching Canada’s inaugural medal at a badminton world championship last year by defeating 2021 world champion Loh Kean Yew of Singapore in the quarterfinals held in Paris. In this year’s championship, he overcame Loh in the round of 16 and subsequently triumphed over Rasmus Gemke of Denmark in the quarterfinals to secure his second world championship medal.
Notably, Lai has significantly improved his world ranking, ascending from 50th place to seventh place over the past year.