By Admin 
Over the past week at the National Centre of Excellence here, camaraderie, cheerleading and team spirit were in focus as 32 nations competed for the Suhandinata Cup. From Monday, it is every player and pair for themselves as the individual leg of the World junior badminton championships gets underway.
The Indian players are high on confidence after a historic first-ever bronze medal in the team event. The hopes of further glory are not unrealistic in the individual categories, where India has one gold, four silver and six bronze medals in the past.
The host nation’s expectations of a podium finish will be the highest in the girls’ singles. Top seed Tanvi Sharma, the Asian junior championships bronze medallist, has shown her mettle at the senior level with a runner-up finish at the U.S. Open. Eighth seed Unnati Hooda, too, had a breakout run to the quarterfinals at the China Open, a Super 1000 event.
Both players, placed in the opposite halves of the draw, have received byes in the opening round and will be eager to emulate Saina Nehwal, who won gold in Pune in 2008.
Unnati had a breakout run to the quarterfinals at the China Open.
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In boys’ singles, 11th seed Rounak Chouhan, an 18-year-old shuttler from Raipur, leads an Indian line-up which also includes Suryaksh Rawat, Tankara Gnana Dattu Talasila and Hmar Lalthazuala.
India’s best results in this category have been silver medals from Siril Verma (2015) and Sankar Muthusamy (2022). India has never clinched a medal in doubles, but the current squad includes some bright prospects capable of changing that.
Every match will follow a best-of-three games format with each game played to 15 points, as part of the Badminton World Federation’s broader testing and analysis programme.
If the score becomes 14-all, a two-point lead is needed to win a game. At 20-all, it will be sudden death.