Huelva (Spain), Dec 19 (IANS): Former world No. 1 and ace Indian shuttler Kidambi Srikanth clinched a historic silver medal at the 2021 BWF World Championships after losing 15-21, 20-22 to Singapore's Loh Kean Yew in the men's singles final, here on Sunday.

With this, Srikanth becomes the first Indian male shuttler to claim a silver medal at the prestigious event.

Previously, legendary Prakash Padukone (bronze in 1983) and B Sai Praneeth (bronze in 2019) were the medal winners in men's singles while the 20-year-old Lakshya Sen joined the elusive list on Saturday after losing to Srikanth in a nail-biting semi-final clash.

On the other hand, Loh who came to the tournament as an unseeded player also scripted history. He became the first Singaporean to win the badminton world championship.

Earlier, on Saturday, Srikanth had created history by becoming the first Indian shuttler to enter the final in the men's singles category of the BWF World Championships.