Victor Lai from Canada secured the men’s singles bronze medal at the badminton world championships for the second consecutive year. Despite being the seventh seed, the 21-year-old athlete from Markham, Ont., was defeated in the semifinals by the European champion, Alex Lanier of France, with a score of 16-21, 21-13, 21-14 at the Indira Gandhi Arena in New Delhi. In the competition, both losing semifinalists are awarded bronze medals.
Last year, Lai made history by claiming Canada’s initial badminton world championships medal when he eliminated the 2021 world champion, Loh Kean Yew of Singapore, in the quarterfinals in Paris. This year, he defeated Loh in the round of 16 and then overcame Rasmus Gemke of Denmark in the quarterfinals to secure his second world championship medal. Lai’s remarkable performance has seen him rise from 50th to seventh in the world rankings over the past year.
