This year was full of ups and downs for Indian badminton. Many key players had to struggle to find form but Lakshya Sen’s one title, Satwik-Chirag’s World Championship medal win and the tremendous progress of the young players also raised a ray of hope. Indian players also had to deal with fitness related problems this year, which also affected their performance.
The most important individual achievement of Indian players this season was Lakshya Sen’s title win in the Australian Open Super 500 badminton tournament. Lakshya won the Super 500 title for the first time since the Canada Open in 2023 and it was his first title since winning the Syed Modi International Super 300 in December last year. He was the runner-up in the Hong Kong Open. Satwik and Chirag re-established their position as India’s leading doubles pair despite battling injury and illness at the start of the season.
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Satvik-Chirag had a good journey
The Satwik-Chirag pair won the bronze medal at the World Championships in Paris, reached the finals of the Hong Kong Open and China Masters and ended the year on a positive note by becoming the first Indian men’s doubles pair to reach the knockout stage of the BWF World Tour Finals. Kidambi Srikanth showed glimpses of a comeback this season but could not win any trophy.
He was reminded of the old days by finishing runner-up at the Malaysia Masters and Syed Modi International. But could not end the long-running title drought. Gayatri Gopichand and Trisa Jolly defended the women’s doubles title in the Syed Modi International Tournament.
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Youth raised hope
The most encouraging signs in Indian badminton in the year 2025 came from the young generation. 20-year-old Ayush Shetty won the US Open Super 300 and has been a consistent presence at BWF World Tour events. He also recorded memorable wins over Japan’s Kodai Naraoka, former world champion Loh Kien Yu, Chinese Taipei’s Chou Tien Chen and Canada’s Brian Yang, which shows his impressive progress.
Sixteen year old Tanvi Sharma attracted everyone’s attention by winning the silver medal in the girls’ singles category in the World Junior Championship. She also reached the final of the US Open and achieved one of the most impressive wins of the season by defeating former world number one Nojomi Okuhara at the Syed Modi International. Tanvi finished the year by finishing runner-up at the Guwahati Masters.
Unnati Hooda played an important role in India winning the bronze medal in the World Junior Team Championship. She reached 23rd position in the world rankings by winning the Odisha Masters Super 100 title. Her win over PV Sindhu at the China Masters caught everyone’s attention. Sanskar Saraswat won his first Super 100 title at the Guwahati Masters.
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It was a disappointing year for Sindhu
However, the year 2025 proved to be largely disappointing for the senior players of India. Two-time Olympic medalist Sindhu reached the quarter-finals three times but lost six times in the first round and four times in the second round. A hamstring problem hampered his campaign at the start of the year, before a foot injury forced him to withdraw from all BWF competitions after October.
This season was even more difficult for 2023 World Championship bronze medalist HS Prannoy. Injuries severely affected his performance. An ankle injury at the India Open in January and a rib muscle injury at the Korea Open in September prevented him from practicing regularly, resulting in nine second-round exits and eight first-round exits. India also performed disappointingly in team competitions. India’s performance in the Asia Mixed Team Championship and Sudirman Cup was not good.
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