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Journalism of Courage
At their home event at the BWF World Junior Championships 2025 in Guwahati, the Indian squad is up against powerhouses Indonesia and China as also Korea and Japan.
Seeded second, India are expected to top their group and will kick-off their campaign against Nepal in Group H on Monday in the mixed team event with 36 teams vying for the coveted Suhandinata Cup. India is fielding a formidable women’s singles line up comprising China Open quarterfinalist Unnati Hooda, Asian junior bronze winners Tanvi Sharma and Vennala Kalalagotla and talented Coimbatore shuttler with a Top 25 scalp in seniors, Rakshitha Ramraj.
The strong line up for the home worlds includes a current and former junior world number 1, at the National Centre of Excellence starting Monday.
While India has won in individuals several times including Saina Nehwal’s gold in 2008, the country has not quite managed to fire on all cylinders. The BWF World Junior Championships in fact has returned to India after a gap of 17 years when Nehwal won, alongside Guru Saudutt’s bronze.
Clubbed with UAE, Sri Lanka and Nepal in Group H, India are favorites to top the group and challenge for a medal in a newly introduced best-of-three set relay-scoring format in which each set will be a race to 45 points.
India start against Nepal on Monday, followed by a match against Sri Lanka on Tuesday and UAE on Wednesday. They are likely to face former champions South Korea, who are expected to top Group G, and a win against them should guarantee the hosts a historic first medal.
India’s medal hope in individual events will depend primarily on girls singles. “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 foreign singles coach Park Tae-Sang.
The other major medal contenders include 14-time champions China or badminton powerhouses Japan, South Korea, Thailand or holders Indonesia for a historic medal in what is the most prestigious and highly contested event in juniors. Indonesia are the in-form team as they also clinched the Asian Mixed team title beating China in February while India lost to Japan in the quarterfinals.
“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 BAI Secretary, Sanjay Mishra.
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 in the paired events as the boys doubles combination of Bhargav Ram Arigela and Viswa Tej Gobburu reached world No 1 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 Russian doubles specialist coach Ivan Sozonov.
