Latest revision as of 20:41, 8 April 2025

[edit] YEAR-WISE DEVELOPMENTS

[edit] 2022

Manne Ratnakar, August 17, 2022: The Times of India

Hyderabad: Chennai lad Sankar Muthusamy Subramanian is the new junior world No. 1 in the boys singles category, according to the latest rankings released by the Badminton World Federation (BWF) on Tuesday. Sankar is the first shuttler from Tamil Nadu to achieve this feat and fourth Indian boy after Aditya Joshi (Madhya Pradesh) in 2014, Siril Verma of Telangana in 2016 and Lakshya Sen from Uttarakhand in 2017. Among them only Sen made it big on the senior circuit.

Sankar benefited from BWF’s decision to defreeze ranking points this August. Ranking points were frozen after the All England Championships in March 2020 due to the pandemic. Sankar told TOI that he was expecting this development. “I am thrilled to become No. 1 at the junior level. We were expecting this as BWF takes three tournaments from the senior category to decide rankings,” said Sankar who was No. 2 a few weeks back.

With Tasnim Mir of Gujarat already the world No. 1 among girls, there are two No. 1s from India at the junior level. Only Saina Nehwal in 2015 and Kidambi Srikanth in 2018 achieved this feat in the senior category. PV Sindhu’s best rank was world No. 2.

Eighteen-year-old Sankar trains at the Fireball Academy in Chennai with Aravindan Samiappan. In fact, Aravindan became Sankar’s personal coach 10 years ago. The teen started learning the nuances of the game at Fireball in 2009.

Sankar won the Junior White Nights tournament in Russia and the Iran Junior International series in 2021.

[edit] 2025

[edit] Defeats World No. 2 Anders Antonsen

April 3, 2025: The Times of India

NEW DELHI: Sankar Muthusamy Subramanian, a 21-year-old Indian badminton player from Tamil Nadu, caused a major upset by defeating world no. 2 Anders Antonsen of Denmark in a thrilling three-game contest at the Swiss Open Super 300 tournament. With the win, he has now entered the quarterfinals of the tournament.

Subramanian, currently ranked 64th in the world and a silver medallist at the 2022 World Junior Championships, showcased an impressive display of defence to overcome the three-time World Championships medalist with a score of 18-21, 21-12, 21-5 in a 66-minute match.

In the women's doubles event, the Indian pair of Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand advanced to the semifinals with a clinical 21-18, 21-14 win over Hong Kong's Pui Lam Yeung and Nga Ting Yeung.

The Indian duo maintained control throughout the match, except for a brief period when their opponents levelled the score at 15-15 in the first set.

Subramanian's victory over Antonsen is considered one of the biggest wins of his career and a confidence booster as he transitions into the senior ranks.

In the quarterfinals, he will face world no. 31 Christo Popov of France, a 2019 World Junior Championships silver medalist who had a strong 2024 campaign, claiming titles at the German and Hylo Opens.

Among other Indian players, Isharani Baruah put up a valiant fight but lost 19-21, 21-18, 18-21 to China's Han Qian Xi, while Anupama Upadhyaya was ousted by Indonesia's world no. 11 Putri Kusuma Wardani with a score of 17-21, 19-21.

The mixed doubles pair of Sathish Karunakaran and Aadya Variyath also had a tough outing, going down 14-21, 16-21 to Liu Kuang Heng and Jheng Yu Chieh.