Tanvi Sharma loses to Phichitpreechasak in BWF World Junior Championships 2025 final

Around 2 p.m. in Guwahati on Sunday, Tanvi Sharma and Thailand’s Anyapat Phichitpreechasak started warming up on adjacent practice courts at the National Centre of Excellence, ahead of their BWF World Junior Championships final.

Tanvi, looking to become only the second Indian ever after Saina Nehwal (Pune, 2008) to win gold, stayed focused on her stretching and drills while also receiving high-fives from teammates and blessings from various host officials. For Phichitpreechasak, there were no such interruptions.

One-and-a-half hours later, face to face on the Centre Court, the second seed silenced a near-capacity crowd as she clinically defeated the top-seeded Indian 15-7, 15-12 in 28 minutes to become the Junior World Champion. She is the third Thai girl after the legendary Ratchanok Intanon (2009-11) and Pitchamon Opatniput (2023) to stand at the top of the podium.

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The 17-year-old Phichitpreechasak’s wristy play and balletic movement didn’t allow Tanvi’s deceptive game to work its magic.

“She was reading well. I was hitting many deceptive shots but she knew where I was hitting,” said Tanvi, who ended a 17-year medal drought in girls’ singles with a silver. Overall, she is the third Indian female medallist after Aparna Popat (silver in 1996) and Saina (silver in 2006 and gold in 2008)

After a close start in the opener, Phichitpreechasak pulled away with seven straight points to take a 13-5 lead. Her net play and timely drop shots had the Indian scrambling. Also, Tanvi didn’t help herself with her attempted smashes either finding the net or straying wide.

In the second game, the teenager from Hoshiarpur even tried the short serve, as opposed to her usual toss one, indicating the need to find something her Thai opponent wasn’t expecting.

The accuracy of the smashes did get better as she led 6-1 but Phichitpreechasak forced an impressive comeback to level the score at 8-8 and from there, didn’t look back. The Thai shuttler hit a down-the-line smash on her second match point to finish the proceedings.

“I was unable to find my rhythm. I was uncomfortable. From the beginning, I was making many unforced errors. In the second game, I led 8-5 and got my confidence back but again I lost a few points due to unforced errors. I tried to play rallies, but I couldn’t.”

China’s Liu Yang Ming Yu, coached by former Olympic and World Champion Chen Long, took down top-seeded Indonesian Mohd. Zaki Ubaidillah 15-10, 15-11 to win the boys’ singles title.

India, who hosted the World Junior Championships after 17 years, finished with two medals – a historic first-ever bronze in the team event and Tanvi’s silver in girls’ singles.

Published on Oct 19, 2025