BWF World Junior Championships 2025: India kicks off mixed team campaign in style with win over Nepal
India kicked off its mixed team campaign for the Suhandinata Cup with a clinical victory over neighbours Nepal, while Sri Lanka came from behind to beat the UAE in a nerve-wracking Group H encounter on the opening day of the BWF World Junior Championships 2025 on Monday.
India, seeded second, experimented with its line-up but still easily sailed through 45-18, 45-17 in its Group H opener while Sri Lanka beat UAE 30-45, 45-34, 45-44.
All other top countries had little problem beating their respective opponents in two straight sets to get their campaigns rolling – China beat Ghana 45-14, 45-10, Korea beat Hungary 45-22, 45-29, Chinese Taipei defeated Brazil 45-24, 45-19, and Indonesia got the better of Philippines 45-27, 45-40.
The mixed team championship is being played under a new best-of-three relay-scoring format, where all five matches are played with a race to 9 points, with the team reaching 45 points first winning the set. Teams are also allowed to change their players for each set.
India took advantage of this substitution rule to give most of its players a chance to get some match experience as it played different combinations in all three doubles and different players in singles in the two sets against Nepal.
The former world junior No. 1 boys’ doubles pair of Bhargav Ram Arigela and Viswa Tej Gobburu set the ball rolling for India with a 9-3 win over Kabir KC and Suprim Panta.
In girls singles, Unnati Hooda and Asian U-19 championships bronze medallist Tanvi Sharma were clinical in their respective singles matches while Suryansh Rawat and Rounak Chouhan warmed up for bigger challenges without breaking any sweat.
While most Indian players had played in a different version of the relay-scoring format in the Asian U-19 Mixed Team Championships, it was Unnati’s first outing in this scoring format.
“I tend to take my time with the warm-up in the 21-point game. But here we have to be at our best from the first point and so my warm-up included a lot more court time as we don’t get any time to warm up between the match,” Unnati added. “Otherwise, there was no problem as such in the match.”
India will now take on Sri Lanka in its second group game on Tuesday and will play UAE on Wednesday.
Results (after first two session):
Group B :France bt Norway 2-0 (45-16, 45-24), USA bt Vietnam 2-0 (45-42, 45-30)
Group D :Turkiye bt Uganda 2-0 (45-22, 45-22); China bt Ghana 2-0 (45-14, 45-10)
Group E :Chinese Taipei bt Brazil 2-0 (45-24, 45-19); Denmark bt Netherlands 2-0 (45-40, 45-22)
Group F :Indonesia bt Philippines 2-0 (45-27, 45-40); Hong Kong China bt Slovenia 2-0 (45-24, 45-25)
Group G :Poland bt Bhutan 2-0 (45-13, 45-11); Korea bt Hungary 2-0 (45-22, 45-29)
Group H :India bt Nepal 2-0 (45-18, 45-17); Sri Lanka bt Sri Lanka (30-45, 45-34, 45-44)
Published on Oct 06, 2025