After a historic first medal in the BWF World Junior Championships mixed team competition last week, Indian badminton’s future hopes will look to do one better in the individual event that begins from Monday in Guwahati.
The last time that India hosted the tournament, Saina Nehwal won the gold medal back in 2008. That medal can be considered a precursor to the golden period of Indian badminton. Now, 17 years later, another generation of Indian badminton talent will hope to signal their readiness to take on that baton.
India have won a total of 11 individual medals in the BWF World Junior Championships – eight in boys singles and three in girls – with Saina’s being the only gold. Once again, all eyes will be on the girls singles for that elusive gold medal where junior World No 1 Tanvi Sharma and the fast-rising Unnati Hooda will be among the favourites to repeat Saina’s feat at home.
But do the Indian teens have the ability to win gold? In the recent past, Indian badminton’s bench strength has, rightfully, come under scrutiny as the likes of Saina, PV Sindhu, Kidambi Srikanth and HS Prannoy have entered their 30s. The middle rung, of players in the 20s, has not exactly translated junior medals to consistency at senior level.
However, the current lot, mostly training at the National Centre of Excellence in Guwahati (which is also the host venue) have had a more centralised system in place for the last couple of years which can prove to be beneficial.
This showed in the mixed team event, where India won their first medal, a bronze by beating former champions South Korea in the quarterfinals last week. That event was played in a relay format with three sets of all five disciplines playing a best of 9 points match – which is not fully indicative of form, but tells of team depth for sure. The 25-member contingent will hope to build on that momentum and home advantage for more firsts in Guwahati.
Indian squad:
Boys’ Singles (U19): Rounak Chouhan, Gnana Dattu TT, Lalthazuala H, Suryaksh Rawat
Girls’ Singles (U19): Tanvi Sharma, Vennala Kalagotla, Unnati Hooda, Rakshitha Sree S.
Boys’ Doubles (U19): Sumith AR/Bhavya Chhabra, Bhargav Ram Arigela/Viswa Tej Gobburu, Vishnu Kedhar Kode/Mithileish P Krishnan
Girls’ Doubles (U19): Vennala Kalagotla/Reshika U, Gayatri Rawat/Mansa Rawat, Aanya Bisht/Angel Punera
Mixed Doubles (U19): Bhavya Chhabra/Vishakha Toppo, Lalramsanga C/Taarini Suri, Vishnu Kedhar Kode/Keerthy Manchala, Vansh Dev/Dianka Waldia
Note: The juniors is a longer tournament, with a draw of 128 and byes in the first rounds
Girls Singles
Top seed Tanvi has a bye in the opening round and her first big challenge will likely come up in the quarterfinal against Indonesian seventh seed Thalita Wiryawan. The talented 16-year-old won bronze in the Asian U-19 Championship earlier this year and will hope to upgrade that medal at the world level.
Unnati, seeded eighth, has already made a mark at the senior level this year, most recently reaching the quarterfinals of the China Open Super 1000 and beating PV Sindhu. She will also start her campaign in the second round, likely against Hong Kong’s Liu Hoi Kiu Anna and has a potential quarterfinal second seed Anyapat Phichitpreechasak of Thailand.
Both Tanvi and Unnati are placed in opposite ends of the draw and there is a tantalising possibility of an all-Indian final. Unnati, 18 years and with more experience, may be considered a favourite but with the competition in this discipline, with Anmol Kharb (who reached the semis of the Arctic Open Super 500 last week) not even making the squad could mean that anything is possible.
Vennala K, who also won bronze at the Asian U-19 bronze, and Rakshita Sree have been placed in the same quarter and have a slightly tougher draw to reach the business end. Rakshita may face fourth seed Ranithma Liyanage of Sri Lanka in the pre-quarters, while Vennala will have an Asian U-19 semifinal rematch against Liu Si Ya of China.
Boys Singles
The draw gets tougher in boys singles, which has historically been India’s most successful discipline at the event, making a medal that much harder.
Lalthazuala Hmar will likely play top seed Mohammad Zaki Ubaidillah of Indonesia in the third round while 11th seed Rounak Chouhan has China’s Li Zhi Hang in his path. Gnana Dattu TT and 15th seed Suryaksh Rawat could face each other as early as the third round (R32).
The potential is there, but for them to walk in the footsteps of Guru Sai Dutt, HS Prannoy, Lakshya Sen and more recently Ayush Shetty, is not going to be easy given the field.
Lalthazuala Hmar will likely play top seed Mohammad Zaki Ubaidillah of Indonesia in the third round while 11th seed Rounak Chouhan has China’s Li Zhi Hang in his path. Gnana Dattu TT and 15th seed Suryaksh Rawat could face each other as early as the third round (R32). It was to Indonesia that India lost in the semis of the mixed event and China were the eventual champions.
Doubles
India has never won a doubles medal at the BWF World Junior Championships, and a medal in any of these disciplines will herald a significant improvement in bench strength and the systems put in place by the Badminton Association of India.
In boys doubles, former junior world No 1 pair of Bhargav Ram Arigela and Viswa Tej Gobburu will start against Andrej Macek and Andrej Suchy of Slovenia. The sixth-seeded Indians will likely face reigning Asian Junior Champions Chen Jun Ting and Liu Jun Rong of China in the quarterfinals.
Bhavya Chhabra and Sumith AR start against Philip Kryger Boe, nephew of former Danish doubles specialist Mathias Boe, and his partner Salomon Thomasen in the second round. Vishnu Kode and Mithileish P Krishnan will face seventh-seeded French duo of Thibault Gardon and Mady Sow in the second round.
In girls doubles, Vennala will pull double duty with Reshika U, starting against Poland’s 9th seeds Dominika Bartlomiejczuk and Kaja Ziolkowska in the second round. Seventh seeds Gayatri and Mansa Rawat have a potential clash against China’s Tan Ke Xuan and Wei Yue Yue in the third round while Angel Punera and Aanya Bisht, seeded 16th, may come up against the fifth-seeded Korean pair Cheon Hyein and Moon Inseo in the pre-quarterfinal.
In mixed doubles, C Lalramsanga and Taarini Suri as well as Bhavya Chhabra and Vishakha Toppo will have to cause an upset to even be in medal contention.
Lalramsanga and Taarini, who reached the final of the Junior Grand Prix in Pune earlier this year, are likely to face Japanese eighth seed Shuji Sawada and Aoi Banno in the third round. The 14th seed Bhavya and Vishakha will likely face third-seeded French pair of Thibault Gardon and Agathe Cuevas and sixth-seeded Thai combination of Pannawat Jamtubim and Kodchaporn Chaichana en route.
