India, Jan. 15 -- An unexpected medal at the World Championships catapulted Victor Lai into the limelight, but behind the breakthrough lies a story of sustained struggle for most Canadian shuttlers. No Canadian had won a medal at the World Championships until the 21-year-old Lai ended the drought with a men's singles bronze in Paris last year.

"Last year was a big roller-coaster, with lots of highs and lows. At the beginning of the year I was losing in the first round of International Series tournaments. So, to go from that to the World Championships was pretty crazy," Lai told reporters on Tuesday. The world No. 19 made a winning start to his India Open Super 750

campaign with a 21-12, 16-21, 21-8 victory at the Indira Gandhi Indoor St...