Picture Credit: X
Kidambi Srikanth, the Indian badminton star, performed exceptionally well at the Malaysia Masters 2025, but he ended up losing the final to China’s Li Shi Feng in straight games at the Stadium Axiata Arena, KL Sports City in Bukit Jalil. The high stakes contest lasted just 26 minutes wherein Srikanth was no match to world number four Shi Feng, who clinched his first-ever BWF World Tour title while registering the scoreline of 21-11, 21-9.
For the Indian player, who is 32 years of age, this was his first major final in four years, and it didn’t start well for him, losing five out of first six points to Li Shi Feng, who had control of rallies for most of the first game. Kidambi Srikanth had made a slight comeback of sorts by making it 6-10 at one stage before the Chinese took the game completely away from him, winning it 21-11.
In the second game, Srikanth made a better start, but he still trailed Shi Feng before the latter took a 11-5 lead at the break without much fuss. The Chinese put the foot on the glass pedal in the next phase of the second game before winning it 21-9 with a jump smash across the court, to end the fairytale week for his opponent at the Malaysia Masters.
I’m pretty happy. It’s been a while. Physically I’ve been feeling well: Kidambi Srikanth
After losing the final, Kidambi Srikanth spoke to BWF about his splendid week at the Malaysia Masters. He was quoted as saying, as per The Indian Express, “I’m pretty happy. It’s been a while. Physically I’ve been feeling well, but also the fact that I haven’t played too many matches last year, playing qualifying, so maybe I kind of lost that touch of playing matches. And yeah, somehow everything worked out this time. I’ve been working hard last month. It’s just these wins, after a very long time, that is what has been my emotions.”
Moreover, the Malaysia Masters final was the first one of its kind for Kidambi Srikanth since December 2021, while at the same time, it was also his first final on the BWF World Tour since March 2019.
