Canada's Victor Lai has proven that he isn't just a flash in the pan.
The 21-year-old badminton star from Scarborough, Ont., locked up a bronze medal at the world championships on Saturday despite falling to France's Alex Lanier (16-21, 21-13, 21-14) in the semifinals of the New Delhi tournament.
Since there are no third-place games, both semifinal losers earn bronze.
Lai beat Denmark's Rasmus Gemke in the quarterfinals to secure a spot on the podium.
The Canadian also took home bronze from last year's world championships in Paris when he ousted 2021 world champion Loh Kean Yew of Singapore in the quarterfinals.
This year, he toppled Loh in the round of 16 before taking down Rasmus Gemke of Denmark in the quarterfinals to earn his second world championship medal.
"Just so good and very happy that I proved last year wasn’t luck," Lai told Dev Sukumar and Hew Yuan Shen of the BWF.
Lai's bronze medals are Canada's only podium appearances at a badminton world championship or Olympic competition. Lai has climbed from 50th to seventh in the world rankings over the past year.
— with files from The Canadian Press
