CHENNAI: India's Jagsher Singh Khangurra, 17, assured himself of a medal in the BWF World Junior Badminton Championships after he came from a game down to overcome Yuan-Syue Jhuang of Chinese Taipei to reach the boys' singles semifinal in Cairo, Egypt on Friday.
Khangurra, who hails from Nabha town in Punjab, got the better of Jhuang 6-15, 17-15, 15-12 in 48 minutes to become the ninth boys' singles player from the country to finish on the podium.
Ayush Shetty was the last Indian to capture a medal at the competition, having captured a bronze in the 2023 edition. Lakshya Sen and HS Prannoy are other high-profile names who medalled in the competition before making a mark at the elite level.
India have so far won one gold, five silver and six bronze (not including Jagsher's medal as he has the chance to go all the way) and 14th seeded Khangurra, who trains at the Centre for Badminton Excellence, will hope to go the distance as he faces 31st seed Radithya Bayu Wardhana of Indonesia in the semifinals on Saturday.
Shaina Manimuthu also had a chance of assuring India a medal in the girls' singles category but the Asian U-17 silver medallist went down 15-5, 15-8 against China's Yi Qing Yin in the last-eight stage.
