Only Indonesian Women's Champion Wins Reach the World Championship Semifinals

PARIS, FRIDAY – Putri Kusuma Wardani has become Indonesia's representative who has advanced the furthest in the Badminton World Championship in Paris, France. She will compete in the semifinals, while Jonatan Christie and the pair of Febriana Dwipuji Kusuma/Amalia Cahaya Pratiwi were eliminated in the quarterfinals.

After Putri defeated Pusarla V Sindhu 21-14, 13-21, 21-16 in the first session quarterfinals at the Adidas Arena, Paris, France, on Friday (29/8/2025), Indonesia had the opportunity to add another semifinalist through Jonatan and Febriana/Amalia, who competed in the second session. However, in the matches that took place on Friday midnight and early Saturday morning Indonesian time, both lost.

Jonatan lost to the defending champion in men's singles, Kunlavut Vitidsarn, with scores of 14-21, 21-18, 8-21. After eliminating the fourth seeds, Lee So-hee/Baek Ha-na, in the third round, Febriana/Amalia were defeated by Rin Iwanaga/Kie Nakanishi with scores of 15-21, 16-21.

Thus, Putri becomes the only representative from Indonesia who will compete in the semifinals on Saturday. She will face the world champion of 2021 and 2022, Akane Yamaguchi. Meanwhile, the other semifinal will feature Chen Yu Fei against the defending women's singles champion, An Se-young.

I have to be physically and technically prepared to attack. So, I have to be prepared to be more tired than I was today.

Putri has lost all three of her meetings with Yamaguchi. However, she has been able to put up a better fight in each encounter.

In the first meeting of the second round of the 2023 Indonesia Open, the 23-year-old athlete lost 15-21, 11-21. In the same year, they met again in the first round of the China Open, where Putri lost 12-21, 18-21.

Just two years later, Putri and Yamaguchi met again, this time at a higher stage, namely the quarter-finals of the Indonesia Open, two months before the World Championship took place. Putri still lost in two games, but was able to put up a better fight, ending with scores of 19-21, 20-22.

Her shortcoming at that time was inconsistent play towards the end of each game. In the second game, she led 18-13, but then fell behind 18-20 and ultimately lost. Putri will carry that experience into the semifinals at the Adidas Arena.

"I must be physically and technically prepared to attack. Therefore, I need to be ready to be more exhausted than today," said Putri, who lost in the first round of the 2022 World Championship and the second round the following year.

As Putri continues to achieve further results at each World Championship, Jonatan has not progressed beyond the quarter-finals as his best result. The quarter-finals at the fifth World Championship, in which the fifth-ranked men's singles player participated, is the same result he obtained in 2019 and 2022. In his debut at the 2018 World Championship and the Copenhagen 2023 edition, he was eliminated in the first round.

Jonatan could not display a better performance compared to when he defeated Vitidsarn in the Sudirman Cup in May. At that time, Jonatan won 21-9, 22-20.

"Kunlavut played very well and quickly. He was very aggressive in the first game, whereas that is not his usual style. Typically, he plays rallies first before attacking," said Jonatan.

Vitidsarn immediately displayed a fast-paced game in the third game, preventing Jonatan from developing his game.

With this victory, Vitidsarn becomes the only remaining men's singles player with a world championship title. He will face Anders Antonsen in the semifinals, while the other match will feature Shi Yu Qi and Victor Lai. Lai, who won against Loh Kean Yew 22-20, 21-18 in the quarterfinals, becomes the first Canadian athlete to win a medal at the World Championships.

Meanwhile, the quarter-finals of the 2025 World Championship will be the last match for Febriana and Amalia as a pair since they began their partnership in 2019. After this, they will change partners as part of the women's doubles training program to find a permanent partner ready to compete starting in 2026.

Utilizing the remaining time in 2025, Febriana will partner with Meilysa Trias Puspitasari, while Amalia will team up with Lanny Tria Mayasari. Lanny also competed in the World Championship alongside Siti Fadia Silva Ramandhanti and was defeated in the third round.

With the combination of Lanny and Amalia, Fadia will be paired again with her previous partner, Apriyani Rahayu. This new formation will begin to be tested at the Asia Tour in September.

"In the future, we will fight alongside our respective partners. It is not an easy matter for us as we have been paired for six years and have never been separated. Certainly, we will both strive for the Indonesian women's doubles," said Amalia.

The women's doubles semifinals of the World Championship featured Iwanaga/Nakanishi against the championship favorites from China, Liu Sen Shu/Tan Ning, and Nami Matsuyama/Chiharu Shida facing Pearly Tan/Thinaah Muralitharan.

The favorites for the men's doubles championship, Seo Seung-jae/Kim Won-ho, have also advanced to the semifinals. The world number one pair will face Kim Astrup/Anders Skaarup Rasmussen in the semifinals. Meanwhile, another match will feature Chen Bo Yang/Liu Yi against Chirag Shetty/Satwiksairaj Rankireddy.