Victor Lai’s breakout season continued to unfold in dream-like fashion as he set a milestone for Canada at the BWF World Championships, becoming his country’s first ever medallist.
The Canadian also became the first singles medallist for Pan Am.
In the quarterfinals, facing 2021 world champion Loh Kean Yew, Lai never showed any sign of being intimidated by the occasion. The 20-year-old was fast, accurate and grabbed every opportunity that came his way.
Loh led 17-12 in the opening game but Lai never let go and eventually overtook the world No.9.

“I think I got a lot of confidence from the summer, from past tournaments, and it feels good to be the underdog. I don’t have much pressure against the seeded players, so I just go and do my best.”
On becoming the first Canadian to medal at the World Championships, Lai said he’d tried to shut the significance of the occasion out of his mind. “I tried not to think about it too much. I knew I had a chance, but I just had to go out there and do my best.”
“It was definitely hard (to keep emotions in check). I think I was up in the second game by a couple of points, but he sped up and he came back, and I was really, really nervous, until I think it was 19-17 or 19-18, it was really close. So I just tried to keep calm, tried not to show too much emotion.”
Loh, who was noticeably struggling from the aftereffects of a stomach infection that had laid him low before the World Championships, gave credit to his opponent.
“I think he has been playing well recently, and even in this tournament itself, he has been on a great run. So of course, credit to him.
“When I came here, I wasn’t prepared at all, honestly, but I was actually quite impressed with myself that I managed to push through much beyond my limit, because I was super unfit before this, and yesterday, I didn’t even know how I won it. So I’m happy with myself. But of course, nobody cares about how badly you’re sick or injured, all you need to do is fight, and I gave my all, I put everything into it.”
Milestones for France, Malaysia
There were other landmark accomplishments on the day. Thom Gicquel and Delphine Delrue became the first pair to medal for France, while Pearly Tan/Thinaah Muralitharan became the first Malaysian women’s doubles pair to medal.
Gicquel/Delrue prevailed over Cheng Xing/Zhang Chi in a tight finish, 21-19 21-18, while Tan/Muralitharan stormed past Stoeva sisters Gabriela/Stefani 21-15 21-10 in 32 minutes.
Meanwhile, 2019 champion Pusarla V Sindhu was denied a fifth World Championships medal by Putri Kusuma Wardani, with the Indonesian winning 21-14 13-21 21-16.