India were knocked out in the quarter-finals of the mixed team event at the 2025 Badminton Asia Junior Championships in Solo, Indonesia on Monday.
The Indian team led by junior world No 1 Tanvi Sharma went down 104-110 in a closely fought battle against Japan in the quarter-finals.
The loss means that India’s wait for a mixed team medal at the Badminton Asia Junior C’ships extends further. The country last bagged a medal in the event more than a decade back in 2011.
In the semi-finals, India did not have the best of starts as Tanvi conceded the opening match 9-11 to Yuzuno Watanabe.
However, India did fight back as the men’s doubles pair of Bhargav-Vishwa Tej, women’s doubles pair of Vennala-Reshika, and mixed doubles pair of Bhavya-Reshika all won their respective matches to help India to a 44-35 lead.
With India eyeing a comfortable victory with their dominance in the doubles matches, Japan once again hit back in the singles discipline.
Hyug Takano prevailed over Rounak Chouhan in the fifth match, while Watanabe once again beat Tanvi to help Japan to a 66-60 lead.
From that point on, there was no coming back for India.
Despite a valiant effort from Chouhan in the tenth and final match, the gap was a bit too much to close as India went down 104-110.
Earlier in the competition, India had topped their group with three wins in as many matches. They had taken down Sri Lanka, United Arab Emirates, and Hong Kong to book their spot in the quarter-finals.
