Sankar Muthusamy reaches BWF World Junior Championships semifinal

SANTANDER (Spain): Rising Indian shuttler Sankar Muthusamy on Friday assured himself of a medal in the BWF World Junior Championships as he reached the men's U-19 singles semifinals after defeating Hu Zhe An of China here.

Seeded fourth in the tournament, Muthusamy won 21-18, 8-21, 21-16 in a quarterfinal match that lasted one hour and 31 minutes.

He became only the ninth Indian to win a medal at the World Junior Championships, the last being Lakshya Sen in 2018 -- a bronze.

Muthusamy faces Panitchaphon Teeraratsakul of Thailand in the semifinal.

On Thursday, Muthusamy had beaten Nachakorn Pusri, also of Thailand, 21-10, 21-12 in the men's singles pre-quarterfinals while fifth seeded Unnati Hooda had lost to Hina Akechi of Japan 17-21, 21-12, 18-21 in the women's singles.