BWF World Junior Championships: Tanvi, Rakshitha, Unnati through to pre-quarters

Three Indians girls hadn’t reached the last-16 stage at the same edition of the BWF World Junior Championships in more than a decade. The wait ended on Wednesday when Tanvi Sharma and Rakshitha Ramraj survived a few moments of jeopardy while Unnati Hooda gave a flawless performance at the National Center of Excellence in Guwahati.

Top seed Tanvi, up against Oei Louisa Jovanka Sandi Winarto of Indonesia, had a mini-slump after racing to a 9-4 lead. The 16-year-old Indian got into her own head and a flurry of unforced errors meant Winarto won eight straight points. With the tournament following a best-of-three games with each game up to 15, Tanvi got back into the rhythm just in time to secure a 15-12, 15-7 win and set up a pre-quarterfinal clash with Sun Li Yuan, a 17-year-old Chinese player who is making her debut at the international stage.

Top seed Tanvi Sharma
| Photo Credit:
RITU RAJ KONWAR

Rakshitha took time to adjust to the drift before taking down Singapore’s Aaliyah Zakaria 11-15, 15-5, 15-8. She will next be up against fourth-seeded Sri Lankan Ranithma Liyanage.

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Unnati, who knocked out American Alice Wang 15-8, 15-5 in 16 minutes, has Malaysia’s Carine Tee as her next challenge. Third-seeded Chinese Xu Wen Jing, the defending champion and a potential semifinal opponent for the Indian, faced a surprise exit with a 12-15, 15-11, 10-15 loss to Yuzuno Watanabe.

In boys’ singles, Tankara Gnana Dattu Talasila was the sole Indian survivor.

The 17-year-old Hyderabadi tightened his game after conceding the opener to beat compatriot Suryaksh Rawat 11-15, 15-6, 15-11. He will meet eight-seeded American Garret Tan for a place in the quarterfinals.

With former Olympic and World Champion Chen Long in the coach’s corner, Li Zhi Hang, another relatively unknown Chinese quantity, eliminated 11th-seed Rounak Chouhan with a 15-11, 15-12 scoreline.

H Lalthazuala went down 13-15, 6-15 to UAE’s Riyan Malhan in straight games with coach Park Tae-sang pointing out the Mizoram boy’s mistakes on service receive as a major reason behind his loss.

Tankara Gnana Dattu Talasila
| Photo Credit:
RITU RAJ KONWAR

In boys’ doubles, sixth-seeded pair of Bhargav Ram Arigela and Viswa Tej Gobburu, who wears a head band similar to his decorated senior Chirag Shetty, passed a tricky test against Japan’s Shunki Hagiwara and Mahiro Matsumoto with an impressive 11-15, 15-10, 15-10 victory late in the day. Their next battle will be against Chinese Taipei’s Yi Hsuan Chen and Chun Yen Chu. 

Other Results:

Mixed Doubles: [14] Bhavya Chhabra/Vishakha Toppo bt. Aske Romer (DEN)/Jasmin Willis (DEN) 15-13, 15-11; [8] Shuji Sawada (JPN)/Aoi Banno (JPN) bt. C Lalramsanga/Taarini Suri 15-10, 15-6

Girls’ Doubles: [16] Aanya Bisht/Angel Punera bt. Hui Hsin Huang (TPE)/Pei Chun Tsai (TPE) 16-14, 12-15, 15-5; Vennala Kalagotla/Reshika Uthayasooriyan bt. Sayaka Enomoto (JPN)/Miku Yashima (JPN) 15-8, 15-10; Tan Ke Xuan (CHN)/Wei Yue Yue (CHN) bt. [7] Gayatri Rawat/Mansa Rawat 15-6, 15-7

Published on Oct 15, 2025