BWF Junior Championships: Tanvi finishes second, Thailand's Anyapat bags gold
In the final, Tanvi went down 7-15, 12-15 to Anyapat as India’s campaign on home soil concluded with an individual silver and a team bronze
Tanvi Sharma atop the podium with fellow medallists
GUWAHATI: India’s Tanvi Sharma’s impressive run at the YONEX SUNRISE BWF World Junior Championships 2025 ended with a silver medal after the 16-year-old’s spirited effort wasn’t enough to overcome Thailand’s Anyapat Phichitpreechasak in the girls’ singles final at the National Centre of Excellence here on Sunday.
In the final, Tanvi went down 7-15, 12-15 to Anyapat as India’s campaign on home soil concluded with an individual silver and a team bronze. Tanvi became the fifth Indian to win a silver medal in the competition, following Aparna Popat (1996), Saina Nehwal (2006), Siril Verma (2015), and Sankar Muthuswamy (2022).
In the boys’ singles final, China’s Liu Yang Ming Yu avenged his loss to top seed Mohd. Zaki Ubaidillah of Indonesia at the Asian Junior Championships earlier this year, winning 15-10, 15-11 to claim the title.
Tanvi struggled to find her rhythm in the opening game as she looked for quick points but made several errors. Anyapat’s sharp anticipation of Tanvi’s flat pushes and flick tosses didn’t help the Indian’s cause, with the Thai reeling off seven straight points from 5-6 to open a commanding lead before closing the game in just nine minutes.
The Indian looked more settled after the change of ends, serving short for the first time in the tournament and winning six consecutive points after trailing early. But Anyapat adjusted quickly, extending rallies and forcing Tanvi into errors. Once again, the Thai claimed seven straight points to go 12-8 up.
Tanvi tried everything—mixing flick pushes and soft drops—but Anyapat held firm, staying in the rallies and sealing the match with a crisp stick smash to break Indian hearts in the stands.
“I wasn’t comfortable from the start of the match and made a lot of mistakes,” Tanvi said afterward. “In the second game, I managed to play my strokes but made errors again after 8-5. My coach told me to keep playing, and I did that, but she was reading my strokes very well.”
China’s Tan Ke Xuan and Wei Yue Yue won the girls’ doubles title with a 15-13, 19-17 victory over Malaysia’s Zi Yu Low and Noraqilah Maisarah, while Korea’s Lee Hyeong Woo and Cheon Hye In beat Chinese Taipei’s Hung Bing Fu and Chou Yun An 15-9, 11-15, 15-10 to claim the mixed doubles crown.