Sankar Muthusamy creates history at BWF Junior World Championships, enters finals of men's singles competition

Sankar beat Thailand’s Panitchaphon Teeraratsakul in straight games 21-13, 21-15 to advance to the final of the event in Santander on Saturday. It just took the Indian boy 40 minutes to send his Thai opponent packing. Meanwhile, he will have the opportunity to bring home India's second gold in the competition, after Saina Nehwal did so in 2008.

In the first game, Sankar and Pantichaphon were neck-to-neck before the mid-game interval, but from there on, there was no looking back for the Indian. He took full control of the game and looked in a hurry to finish the proceedings. The southpaw kept attacking the Thai boy on both sides of the net, which worked in his favour.

The highlight of the game was when in the second game, both players engaged in a 57-shot rally, which the Thai player won. But Sankar made up for it, by winning the next six points, stamping his authority in the match. Panitchaphon tried to make a comeback when the score read 18-15 in the second game, but the Indian boy did not give up any more points.

Prior to this, in the quarterfinals, he beat Hu Zhen An of China 21-18, 8-21, 21-16. Other Indian seeds in the competition, Anupama Upadhyaya and Unnati Hooda had failed to make it to the medal rounds.