Among the quarterfinalists at the YONEX SUNRISE BWF World Championships 2025 on Friday will be Ranithma Liyanage, sole Sri Lankan among the representatives from badminton powerhouses.
Liyanage will need to take one further step to make history. A win against China’s Liu Si Ya will make her the first Sri Lankan to medal at the BWF World Juniors.
On Thursday, having outplayed India’s Rakshita Sree Santosh in straight games, Liyanage hoped to leverage her experience from the Badminton Asia Junior Championships in July, where she’d fallen to Liu Si Ya after a close first game.
Tanvi Sharma
“Today I was feeling very good, I was quite confident,” said the soft-spoken Sri Lankan. “I have a Chinese opponent in the quarterfinals; I had played her at the Asian Juniors. I learnt a lot from that match. I will approach tomorrow’s match differently; maybe with better control and speed.”
Liyanage will be banking on her opponent’s relative lack of international experience, for Liu has played just two international tournaments before the World Juniors – both Badminton Asia junior events.
Hosts India have a strong presence, with top seed Tanvi Sharma and eighth seed Unnati Hooda making the quarterfinals from opposite halves. Sharma dealt China one of their two defeats of the day as she beat Sun Li Yuan 15-8 15-5, while Hooda climbed back from a 3-9 deficit to outgun Malaysia’s Carine Tee 15-10 15-7.
“My condition was good today and I was aggressive,” Sharma said. “Everything is going well, let’s hope for a medal. The scoring system needs you to be aggressive from the start. Your preparation has to be very good, otherwise you’ll lose points early. It suits my style.”
Tankara Gnana Dattu Talasila
Apart from Sharma and Hooda, the hosts have a representative in men’s singles, and a pair each in men’s doubles and mixed doubles.
Tankara Gnana Dattu Talasila survived a comeback from eighth seed Garret Tan (USA) in both games to make it to the men’s singles quarterfinals. Trailing 8-12 in the second, Tan steadily narrowed the gap to come within a point at 13-14, but Talasila finally shut the door on his fourth match point.
“I wasn’t nervous, but I could have done better. I’ve come this far; I feel motivated that I’m the only one for India in the (men’s singles) quarterfinals,” said Talasila.
Highlights
» Men’s singles No.1 Moh Zaki Ubaidillah was his efficient best against UAE’s Riyan Malhan, taking 24 minutes for his 15-9 15-6 victory.
» Similarly, women’s singles No.1 Anyapat Phichitpreechasak completed her match in straight games, setting up a quarterfinal with Unnati Hooda.
What They Said
“In the physical aspect he (Ubaidillah) was stronger, I could feel his pressure, he was pushing me to the back corners. He’s older and I could feel it on court. His stroke quality was very good and he played some unexpected shots. He was so quick, I’ve never played someone so good or so fast.” – Riyan Malhan
“I had a good start in the third game, I was leading 8-3, and then I shifted to the side with the wind behind me. I started feeling like I couldn’t play the back court and started to get really nervous. I was close to the finish line, it’s difficult to keep those thoughts out of your mind.” – Simon Rasmussen, after his 3-15 15-11 15-13 loss to Chung Ching Cyrus
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