Canada’s Victor Lai secured a bronze medal in the men’s singles category at the badminton world championships held on Saturday. The 21-year-old athlete, hailing from Markham, Ont., and seeded seventh, faced a defeat in the semifinals against Alex Lanier of France, the European champion, with a score of 16-21, 21-13, 21-14 at the Indira Gandhi Arena in New Delhi. In this tournament, both semifinalists who do not proceed to the final round are awarded bronze medals.

Victor Lai made history last year by clinching Canada’s first-ever medal at a badminton world championships when he eliminated the 2021 world champion, Loh Kean Yew of Singapore, in the quarterfinals in Paris. This year, he overcame Loh in the round of 16 and later defeated Rasmus Gemke of Denmark in the quarterfinals, securing his second world championship medal. Notably, Lai has significantly improved his world ranking, moving up from 50th place to seventh in the past year.