Sam Walker reached his first WTT Feeder final, but saw a 2-0, 9-6 lead evaporate as he had to settle for a silver medal in Chennai, India.

Home favourite and top seed Manav Thakkar (WR 49) was his opponent in the final and Walker (WR 159) took the first 11-6 and then reeled off seven successive points from 8-4 down to add the second game and stand a game away from personal history.

He led all the way through the third and stood two points from victory at 9-6 up, but was stunned as Thakkar won the next five and then took the momentum into the fourth, going 7-1 up and winning it 11-3.

Thakkar never allowed Walker to lead in the decider and, though the Englishman stayed in touch, he could not quite get close enough and lost it 11-8.

Walker can at least console himself with a haul of 90 world ranking points, which will move him up closer to the world’s top 100.

His earlier victories saw him knock out four other Indians in a tournament dominated in terms of both entries and medals by the host nation.

He got past Shridar Joushi (WR 586) and second seed Ankur Bhattacharjee (WR 73), both in three straight, before coming from 2-0 down to beat sixth seed Payas Jain (WR 106) 3-2 (14-16, 5-11, 11-5, 11-7, 11-9) in the quarter-finals. In the semi-finals, he knocked out seventh seed Snehit Suravajjula (WR 110) in three.

Results

Men’s Singles
Round of 32
Sam Walker bt Shridar Joushi (IND) 3-0 (11-6, 12-10, 11-7)

Round of 16
Walker bt Ankur Bhattacharjee (IND) 3-0 (11-7, 11-9, 11-7)

Quarter-finals
Walker bt Payas Jain (IND) 3-2 (14-16, 5-11, 11-5, 11-7, 11-9)

Semi-finals
Walker bt Snehit Suravajjula (IND) 3-0 (11-4, 11-8, 11-9)

Final
Manav Thakkar (IND) bt Walker 3-2 (6-11, 8-11, 11-9, 11-3, 11-8)