BWF World Junior Championships 2025: India gears up for strong performance on home turf
Bolstered by the presence of experienced campaigners like Unnati Hooda and Rakshitha Sree, host India is gearing up for a strong performance in the BWF World Junior Badminton Championships that gets underway at the National Centre of Excellence in Guwahati from Monday.
The championship, which is returning to India after 17 years, will be played in two phases from October 6 to 19. The first phase will see 36 teams vying for the coveted Suhandinata Cup in the mixed team championships followed by the individual championships for the Eye-Level Cup.
India has so far won a total of 11 individual medals in the history of the championships, with its best-ever performance coming in Pune 2008 when it bagged a gold and bronze medal.
India is placed in Group H, alongside UAE, Sri Lanka and Nepal and will compete in a newly introduced best-of-three set relay-scoring format in which each set will be a race to 45 points.
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“We have been performing quite well in the junior events over the last few years with BAI giving enough exposure to the players as part of the preparation for the World Junior Championships in Guwahati. We are once again expecting multiple medals this time around as most of the team members have been training at this very venue for the last year or so,” said, Sanjay Mishra, General Secretary, BAI.
India will open its campaign against Nepal on Monday, followed by a match against Sri Lanka on Tuesday and UAE on Wednesday.
The other major medal contenders include 14-time champions China and badminton powerhouses Japan, South Korea, Thailand and holders Indonesia.
India’s medal hope in individual events will depend primarily on girls’ singles, where it will be represented by Asian U-19 championships bronze medallist Tanvi Sharma, Vennala K, China Open quarterfinalist Unnati and Rakshitha.
“All our four girls singles players are medal contenders and can even win the gold medal. Even our boys can beat any opponent on their day and I am confident that they will excel in home conditions,” said the team’s singles coach Park Tae-Sang.
India’s hopes in boys singles will rest mostly on junior world No. 14 Rounak Chohan and 17-year-old Gnana Dattu TT.
The hosts would also be hoping for a special performance from the boys’ doubles combination of Bhargav Ram Arigela and Viswa Tej Gobburu, who scaled the world number one ranking in January earlier this year.
“I am aware that India has never won a medal in the paired events before this but this time we have a formidable line up. These players have been playing regularly on the circuit and that experience of training at this venue should helped them a lot,” said doubles specialist coach Ivan Sozonov.
Published on Oct 05, 2025