Thais top the singles seeds for Asian Juniors

Not long after the Indonesia Open wraps up, Jakarta will be right back to hosting, with the Badminton Asia Junior Championships being held from July 14-22, in South Tangerang City for the second straight year.  The mixed team competition, as well as the five individual events, will be contested in this tournament.

By Stevy Bastian.  Photos: Badmintonphoto

Thailand’s reigning World Junior Champion Kunlavut Vitidasrn leads the seedings in the boys’ singles event this year.  Seeded third in the previous edition, he clinched the bronze medal, but Vitidasarn has shown his talent in the Asia continental junior events by reaching the finals in three disciplines, and winning the mixed and boys’ doubles titles at the U-15 Asian Championships in 2015.  In fact, it was at the Jakarta Open Junior International that he won his first international singles title, in the U-17 division in 2016, and of course his best result to date was the gold medal at the 2017 BWF World Junior Championships in Yogyakarta, Indonesia.  As for home shuttlers, Indonesia has Ikhsan Rumbay, Alberto Alvin Yulianto, and Karono as the 4th, 7th and 10th seeds respectively.

The silver medallist in the last edition, Phittayaporn Chaiwan (pictured) leads the girls’ singles seedings.  Also crowned champion of the India Junior Grand Prix last year and the German Junior in 2018, Chaiwan occupied the girls’ singles #1 spot in the BWF World Junior Rankings.  China has placed 3 girls to fill out the remainder of the top 4 seeded positions, including Wang Zhiyi, who beat Chaiwan in the final of the Thai Junior International earlier this year.

The Chinese duo, Di Zijian and Wang Chang (pictured) have a chance to defend the boys’ doubles crown this year.  They will compete with last year’s bronze medallists Shin Tae Yang and Wang Chan of Korea, who are seeded second.  Indonesia puts its boys’ doubles hopes in Ghifari Anandaffa Prihardika and Pramudya Kusumawardana Riyanto, the #4 seeds.

Indonesia dominates the girls’ doubles event by placing four pairs on the seeding list, led by Agatha Imanuela and Siti Fadia Silva Ramadhanti, seeded second.  Ribka Sugiarto won the bronze medal last year with Jauza Fadhila Sugiarto, who has since graduated out of the junior ranks.  This time, Ribka will team up with Febriana Dwipuji Kusuma and they are the #4 seeds.  However, the top seeds in this event are the returning silver medallists Liu Xuanxuan and Xia Yuting from China.

Defending champions and the former World Junior silver medallists Rehan Naufal Kusharjanto and Siti Fadia Silva Ramadhanti lead the mixed doubles seeding.  They will be challenged by the Chinese bronze medallists at the 2017 World Juniors.  However, they have been split up, such that Liu Xuanxuan is now seeded 2nd with Guo Xinwa and Liu Shiwen is in a 5th-seeded pairing with Zhang Shuxian.

Of course, the seedings and entry lists also reveal the absence of top contenders.  Japan is not fielding World Junior bronze medallist Kodai Naraoka, for instance.  Two women’s singles players who had key roles to play on their respective teams at the Uber Cup Finals – Korea’s An Se Young and Goh Jin Wei of Malaysia – are still of junior age but will not be there.  This is no surprise for Goh, who already has a World Junior title and who has accepted an invitation to the World Championships later this month.  The defending girls’ doubles champions are also still eligible for junior tournaments but Lee Yu Rim sustained an injury in a domestic event last month and she and Baek Ha Na even had to turn down their own invitation to the Worlds in Nanjing.

The Seedings

Boys’ singles
1.  Kunlavut Vitidsarn (THA – pictured)
2.  Li Shifeng (CHN)
3.  Bai Yupeng (CHN)
4.  Ikhsan Rumbay (INA)
5.  Chen Shiau-cheng (TPE)
6.  Lakshya Sen (IND)
7.  Alberto Alvin Yulianto (INA)
8.  Su Li-yang (TPE)
9.  Dmitriy Panarin (KAZ)
10.  Karono (INA)
11.  Saran Jamsri (THA)
12.  Joel Jia Wei Koh (SGP)
13.  Nguyen Hai DAng (VIE)
14.  Yu Sheng-po (TPE) 
15.  Ng Tze Yong (MAS)
16.  Kiran George (IND)

Girls’ singles
1.  Phittayaporn Chaiwan (THA)
2.  Wang Zhiyi (CHN)
3.  Zhou Meng (CHN)
4.  Wei Yaxin (CHN)
5.  Chasinee Korepap (THA)
6.  Hsieh Yu-ying (TPE)
7.  Aakarshi Kashyap (IND)
8.  Park Ga Eun (KOR)

Boys’ doubles
1.  Di Zijian / Wang Chang (CHN)
2.  Shin Tae Yang / Wang Chan (KOR)
3.  Liang Weikeng / Shang Yichen (CHN)
4.  Ghifari Anandaffa Prihardika / Pramudya Kusumawardana Riyanto (INA)
5.  Guo Xinwa / Liu Shiwen (CHN)
6.  Abel Wen Xing Tan / Han Zhuo Toh (SGP)
7.  Thanawin Madee / Wachirawit Sothon (THA)
8.  Hiroki Midorikawa / Hiroki Nakayama (JPN)

Girls’ doubles
1.  Liu Xuanxuan / Xia Yuting (CHN)
2.  Agatha Imanuela / Siti Fadia Silva Ramadhanti (INA)
3.  Pearly Koong Le Tan / Toh Ee Wei (MAS)
4.  Febriana Dwipuji Kusuma / Ribka Sugiarto (INA)
5.  Li Zi-qing / Teng Chun-hsun (TPE)
6.  Chen Yingying / Zhang Shuxian (CHN)
7.  Metya Inayah Cindiani / Febby Valencia Dwijayanti Gani (INA)
8.  Indah Cahya Sari Jamil / Lisa Ayu Kusumawati (INA)

Mixed doubles
1.  Rehan Naufal Kusharjanto / Siti Fadia Silva Ramadhanti (INA)
2.  Guo Xinwa / Liu Xuanxuan (CHN)
3.  Hiroki Midorikawa / Natsu Saito (JPN)
4.  Chang Yee Jun / Pearly Koong Le Tan (MAS)
5.  Liu Shiwen / Zhang Shuxian (CHN)
6.  Wang Chan / Jeong Na Eun (KOR)
7.  Shang Yichen / Li Yijing (CHN)
8.  Pramudya Kusumawardana Riyanto / Ribka Sugiarto (INA)