Buoyed by their historic bronze medal in the mixed team event, the Indian contingent aims to carry this momentum into the individual competitions of the BWF World Junior Championships beginning on Monday.
India’s best performance in the tournament was 17 years ago in Pune when Saina Nehwal won the girls’ singles gold and RMV Guru Sai Dutt bagged a bronze medal in boys’ singles.
To date, India has won a total of 11 individual medals in this competition, including four silver.
India’s strongest prospects for bagging another gold medal in this edition lie in the girls’ singles, with junior world number one Tanvi Sharma and China Open quarterfinalist Unnati Hooda.
Both shuttlers are in different halves of the draw, raising the possibility of an all-Indian final.
Tanvi, the Asian U-19 bronze medallist, has a bye in the opening round and could face Indonesian seventh seed Thalita Wiryawan in a potential quarterfinal clash, marking her first significant test in the campaign.
Unnati, seeded eighth, is expected to begin her campaign in the second round against Hong Kong’s Liu Hoi Kiu Anna, with a potential last-eight matchup against Thailand’s second seed Anyapat Phichitpreechasak.
India’s other Asian U-19 bronze medallist, Vennala K and world number 41 Rakshita Sree are in the same quarter but will need to overcome several tough matches to reach the last four.
Rakshita might meet fourth seed Ranithma Liyanage of Sri Lanka in the pre-quarters, while Vennala will need to get past China’s Liu Si Ya at the same stage.
In the boys’ singles, contenders face a tougher path to the medal rounds. Lalthazuala Hmar might meet world junior number one and top seed Mohammad Zaki Ubaidillah of Indonesia in the round of 32.
Eleventh seed Rounak Chouhan has a challenging match against China’s Li Zhi Hang at the same stage.
Compatriots Gnana Dattu TT and 15th seed Suryaksh Rawat are all set to clash in the third round.
In the paired events, the former junior world number one boys’ doubles team of Bhargav Ram Arigela and Viswa Tej Gobburu will start their campaign against Andrej Macek and Andrej Suchy of Slovenia.
The sixth-seeded Indian duo might face reigning Asian Junior Champions Chen Jun Ting and Liu Jun Rong of China in the last eight.
Bhavya Chhabra and Sumith A R will begin their campaign against Philip Kryger Boe, nephew of former Danish doubles specialist Mathias Boe and his partner Salomon Thomasen in the round of 64.
Vishnu Kode and Mithileish P Krishnan face a tough match against the seventh-seeded French pair Thibault Gardon and Mady Sow at the same stage.
(With PTI Inputs)
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