India Thrash Nepal, Sri Lanka Edge UAE on Opening Day of Suhandinata Cup 2025

India began its mixed team campaign at the BWF World Junior Championships 2025 in dominant fashion, cruising past Nepal in straight sets on Monday. The second seeds showed their depth and adaptability in the new relay-scoring format, posting a 45–18, 45–17 victory in their Group H opener of the Suhandinata Cup in Yogyakarta, Indonesia.

Neighbouring rivals Sri Lanka, meanwhile, produced one of the day’s most dramatic results, coming from behind to defeat the UAE 30–45, 45–34, 45–44 in a nail-biting three-set thriller.

The new best-of-three relay format — featuring a race to 45 points, with each of the five matches played up to nine points — tested teams’ coordination and player rotation strategies. Under this system, teams can substitute players between sets, allowing coaches to manage energy and maximize tactical variety.

India used that flexibility smartly, fielding different combinations across all three doubles matches and rotating singles players between sets to give the full squad valuable exposure. The former world junior No. 1 boys’ doubles duo of Bhargav Ram Arigela and Viswa Tej Gobburu opened India’s account with a commanding 9–3 win over Nepal’s Kabir KC and Suprim Panta, setting the tone for the rest of the tie.

In the singles, Unnati Hooda and Tanvi Sharma, the Asian U-19 Championships bronze medallist, were clinical, barely allowing their opponents any openings. Boys’ singles shuttlers Suryansh Rawat and Rounak Chouhan followed suit, easing through their matches as India wrapped up the contest comfortably.

For Unnati, this match also marked her first experience under the new scoring system. “I tend to take my time with the warm-up in the 21-point game,” she explained. “But here we have to be at our best from the first point and so my warm-up included a lot more court time as we don’t get any time to warm up between the match. Otherwise, there was no problem as such in the match.”

Elsewhere, the tournament favourites made similarly smooth starts. China trounced Ghana 45–14, 45–10, while Korea beat Hungary 45–22, 45–29. Chinese Taipei overcame Brazil 45–24, 45–19, and Indonesia downed the Philippines 45–27, 45–40.

With their opening win secured, India will next face Sri Lanka on Tuesday in what promises to be a more challenging Group H encounter. The team will then conclude the group stage against the UAE on Wednesday as it looks to cement its place in the knockout rounds.