Momentum for Junior Badminton Players to Show Their Teeth at a High Level

JAKARTA, KOMPAS — Indonesia once again hosts the highest level junior badminton tournament titled Yonex Sunrise Jaya Raya Junior International Grand Prix 2025. In addition to serving as a platform for junior badminton players to showcase their skills and assess their quality, this tournament can also act as a warm-up for the Junior Asian Championships.

The Jaya Raya Junior International Grand Prix 2025 will be held at the GOR PB Jaya Raya, Bintaro, South Tangerang, from April 3 to 8. This tournament, which features three categories: under 15, under 17, and under 19 years old, is the highest category junior tournament.

In the BWF calendar, tournaments of this level are only held in four countries: the Netherlands, Germany, Indonesia, and India. Specifically for the U-19 category, the points earned will be counted towards the World Badminton Federation (BWF) rankings.

The chairman of the tournament committee, Aris Siswoko, stated that the enthusiasm of junior badminton players participating in the Jaya Raya Junior International Grand Prix 2025 is quite high. This year, a total of 1,239 participants from 22 countries are recorded to take part.

Indonesia is the country with the highest participation, featuring 713 players from various clubs. "With such an overwhelming number of participants, we will organize the matches as efficiently as possible to ensure they run smoothly and do not extend late into the night," said Aris at a press conference in Jakarta, Monday (7/7/2025).

The Chairman of the Jaya Raya Development Foundation, Budi Karya Sumadi, feels honored to be entrusted with hosting a prestigious international championship at the junior level. Since 2014, they have consistently organized the tournament.

Budi added that this event serves as a means to test the abilities of young Indonesian athletes. By participating in this tournament, they will gain international-scale experience as well as official ranking points without having to compete abroad.

Not only that, this event can serve as a benchmark for the abilities of junior athletes from Indonesia on the international stage. "It is also hoped that potential talents will emerge who can be recruited into the PBSI national training center," said Budi.

This championship has proven to contribute to the emergence of many Indonesian badminton players who are now active at the world level, such as Apriyani Rahayu, Siti Fadia Silva Ramadhanti, Ribka Sugiarto, Lanny Tria Mayasari, Rinov Rivaldy, and Pitha Haningtyas Mentari.

The only daughter of the gold medalist from the Paris 2024 Olympics, An Se-young (South Korea), has also participated in the Jaya Raya Grand Prix tournament and tasted championship glory.

Among the Indonesian athletes who will participate are Micha Leona Luthfia Wardoyo and Denis Azzarya. The players competing in the U-19 category both come with previous achievements.

Micha even tasted the championship title at a similar event in the 2022 edition when competing in the U-15 category. Micha, who is a female doubles player, partnered with Keyla Annisa Putri.

However, when advancing to the U-17 category in the last two editions, Micha/Keyla have not been able to achieve similar results. They were halted in the second round and the round of 16.

"The target is clear; first, we must play to the maximum because this has been prepared well in advance from the agricultural aspect. And of course, we want to be champions, we want to repeat what we achieved three years ago," said Micha.

The determination to showcase his best abilities was also expressed by Denis. The 18-year-old singles player is confident as he successfully won the Alpes Junior International tournament in April.

For Denis and Micha, the Jaya Raya Junior International Grand Prix 2025 can also serve as a warm-up event for the Junior Asian Championship. They are part of the Indonesian squad for the tournament held at GOR Manahan, Surakarta, starting from July 18, 2025.