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Jagsher Singh Khangurra advances to semis at the Cairo BWF World Junior Championships, assures India a medal
Khangurra came from behind to get the better of Yuan-Syue Jhuang of Chinese Taipei. He faces Indonesian Radithya Bayu Wardhana next.
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India’s Jagsher Singh Khangurra has assured the country a medal at the ongoing BWF World Junior Championships at the Cairo International Stadium in Egypt. Khangurra came from behind to beat Yuan-Syue Jhuang of Chinese Taipei to advance to the semifinals and secure at least a bronze medal. He will next face Radithya Bayu Wardhana of Indonesia.
Khangurra, who already has six international medals to his name, was not at his best in the opening game and lost it 6-15. But the Indian, who is ranked 18th among in the world junior rankings, showed a marked improved in the next game.
It was a neck-and-neck affair for the large part, and he eventually he took it 17-15. In the deciding game, he continued the good work to win 15-12 and seal a place in the last four.
In the previous round, Khangurra made short work of Malaysia’s Lee Qian Chong, wininng in straight games 15-9, 15-8. However, in his Round-of-32 match, his opener, he had a tough outing against Punnatat Prempunpong of Thailand but managed to emerge victorious in three tough games 15-11, 10-15, 17-15.
Khangurra hails from Nabha, Punjab. Over the years, he has trained at Patiala, Bahadurgarh (Haryana) and Mumbai. However, over the last two years he has trained at Bengaluru's Centre for Badminton Excellence.
Among the other Indian players, Shaina Manimuthu failed to advance to the semifinals after she lost her quarterfinal tie against 21st-ranked Yi Qin Yin of China. The Indian girl lost the contest 5-15, 8-15. Tanvi Reddy Andluri also lost her pre-quarters against Ip Sum Yau 11-15, 6-15.
To date, Saina Nehwal is the only Indian to win a gold medal at the BWF World Junior Championships. The 2012 Olympic bronze medal winner did it back in 2008.
Four Indians have won silver medals: Aparna Popat (1996), Siril Verma (2015), Sankar Muthusamy Subramaniam (2022) and Tanvi Sharma (2025). B Sai Praneeth (2010), Lakshya Sen (2018) and Ayush Shetty (2023) had all won the bronze.
