Indonesian Badminton Hope from Young Athletes

PARIS, SUNDAY – For the fourth consecutive time in the Badminton World Championship, Indonesia did not secure a title. One positive aspect brought from the championship in Paris, France, from August 25 to 31, is the improved performance of the young athletes compared to their seniors.

Putri Kusuma Wardani represents young athletes who can be expected to "fly" higher. This women's singles player is the only representative from Indonesia who stood on the podium with a bronze medal.

The princess stood on the podium during the medal ceremony alongside other bronze medalists, An Se-young (2023 world champion), Chen Yu Fei (silver), and Akane Yamaguchi (gold). Yamaguchi became the world champion after defeating Chen 21-9, 21-13 in the final match held at the Adidas Arena on Sunday (31/8/2025).

Putri became the Indonesian badminton player with the furthest advancement, reaching the semifinals before being defeated by Yamaguchi. The 23-year-old athlete is the Indonesian women's singles player who has won a medal after Lindaweni Fanetri in Jakarta 2015.

With this achievement, Putri will become the highest-ranked women's singles player from Indonesia starting Tuesday, surpassing her senior, Gregoria Mariska Tunjung, who lost in the third round. From the ninth position, Putri is expected to rise to seventh place, the position currently held by Gregoria.

"Putri is already at a stage where she is confident in her playing style; she just needs to gain more competitive experience and prepare better strategies when facing changes in her opponent's game. Physical strength and the sharpness of her striking technique will also be aspects that will be enhanced," said the Head of Development and Achievement Division of PP PBSI Eng Hian in Paris.

Putri has achieved her highest accomplishments, at least up to this point, with her game and mental maturity gradually improving since mid-2024. She has learned to rise after performing stagnantly since 2023.

In her downturn, Putri chose to take a break from tournaments from June to September 2024 to improve herself. She worked on all aspects of her abilities, including mental strength. Since then, this athlete, who is also a police officer, has progressed step by step, such as reaching the quarter-finals of high-level tournaments, the Malaysia Open and the Indonesia Open Super 1000 in 2025.

After defeating the 2019 world champion, Pusarla V Sundhu, in the quarter-finals of the World Championship, Putri stated that she must thank herself for still having the motivation to rise and achieve this. "I felt really down at one point. There were many things I did in silence to regain everything," said Putri, who also mentioned her parents as her main supporters in her comeback.

From this journey, the athlete from Tangerang, Banten, has set a new target to avoid complacency with the semifinal result in Paris 2025. He wants to prove that he can consistently compete with athletes ranked in the top ten in the world, qualify for the Los Angeles 2028 Olympics, and stand on the podium.

The quality of play from Alwi and Jafar/Felisha has significantly improved. They demonstrated a very good resistance against top world players and even had a chance to win.

In addition to Putri, Eng Hian expressed appreciation for Alwi Farhan (20 years old) and Jafar Hiyatullah/Felisha Alberta Nathaniel Pasaribu (22 and 19 years old) who made their debut at the World Championship. Alwi and Jafar/Felisha were eliminated in the third round, but they demonstrated good performance and fighting spirit.

Alwi lost to the defending champion in men's singles, Kunlavut Vitidsarn, in a tight match with scores of 18-21, 21-18, 20-22. In the second round, he eliminated the 12th seed, Lin Chun Yi.

Jafar/Felisha also lost in three games to the fourth seeds from Malaysia, Chen Tang Jie/Toh Ee Wei, who ultimately became the champions. The top mixed doubles pair from Indonesia lost with a score of 21-14, 19-21, 17-21. Jafar/Felisha's performance was better compared to their seniors, Rinov Rivaldy/Pitha Haningtyas Mentari, who lost in two games to the fifth seeds, Tang Chun Man/Tse Ying Tsuet, in the second round.

"The quality of play from Alwi and Jafar/Felisha has significantly improved. They demonstrated a very good resistance against top world players and even had a chance to win. However, they still need more competitive experience," said Eng Hian.

Alwi has been competing in the BWF World Tour since 2024, but only received more opportunities to play this year. Jafar/Felisha, who have been paired since August 2024, even entered the BWF World Tour competition (Super 300 level and above) in 2025, yet have already become strong competitors against the world's top pairs. Jafar/Felisha won the Taiwan Open Super 300 and reached the semifinals of the China Open Super 1000 as their best results.

Meanwhile, regarding senior players such as Anthony Sinisuka Ginting, Gregoria Mariska Tunjung, and Leo Rolly Carnando, Eng Hian assessed that they did not perform at their best. "Ginting and Grego are already safe from injuries and illnesses; I hope they can perform well again. As for Leo/Bagas, the coach and I will evaluate them because they did not meet expectations," said Eng Hian.

Leo/Bagas were eliminated in the third round of the men's doubles after losing to the world number one pair, Seo Seung-jae/Kim Won-ho, who advanced to the final. After performing well in the first game, they played very poorly in the next two games, losing 21-17, 9-21, 4-21.

The defeats of Leo/Bagas and Fajar Alfian/Muhammad Rian Ardianto, also in the third round, resulted in the failure to achieve the target of one championship title from PP PBSI. In fact, only the men's doubles sector explicitly stated this target, as conveyed by coach Antonius Budi Ariantho during the preparation period for the Indonesian team to compete in Paris 2025.

The victory of Chen Tang Jie/Toh Ee Wei and Yamaguchi in the finals marks the best record in their respective careers. Chen/Toh won the mixed doubles title after defeating Jiang Zhen Bang/Wei Ya Xin 21-15, 21-14, while Yamaguchi triumphed over Chen with a score of 21-9, 21-13.

Chen/Toh became the first mixed doubles pair from Malaysia to win the world championship title since this highest individual event in badminton was held in 1977. Moments after scoring the final point, Chen/Toh celebrated their victory by embracing Nova Widianto and Rexy Mainaky, the coaches who accompanied them on the court.

This title erased the disappointment of Chen/Toh when they were eliminated in the quarter-finals of the Paris 2024 Olympics at the same venue as the World Championship. At that time, they lost to Kim Won-ho/Jeong Na-eun.

Not only for the athletes, this title adds to the achievements of Nova, a coach from Indonesia. Long before guiding his athletes to become world champions, Nova achieved the same feat while playing alongside Liliyana Natsir. They became champions in Anaheim 2005 and Kuala Lumpur 2007.

In addition to Chen/Toh, Malaysia has another finalist in Paris 2025, namely Pearly Tan/Thinaah Muralitharan, who will face the world number one women's doubles pair, Liu Sheng Shu/Tan Ning. Like their counterparts, Tan/Muralitharan has become the first Malaysian women's doubles team to reach the final of the World Championship.

Three years ago, when the World Championship was held in Tokyo, Japan, Malaysia won its first world championship title through the men's doubles team of Aaron Chia/Soh Wooi Yik. Coupled with the results from Paris 2025, Malaysia has secured titles in two out of the last three World Championships.

Meanwhile, Yamaguchi became the second women's singles player to win the world championship three times after Carolina Marin (2014, 2015, 2018). Yamaguchi added to her titles after standing on the highest podium in 2021 and 2022.

Although China has always dominated the women's singles since the 1980s, they have not brought home the world championship title in this category since Wang Yi Han won in London in 2011. The best results for Chinese athletes since then have been the finals reached by Li Xue Rui (2013 and 2014) and Chen Yu Fei (2022 and 2025).