WORLD JUNIORS 2012 – Entry lists published

The Chiba Badminton Assocation has published the entry lists for this year’s BWF World Junior Championships, which are set to kick off with the team Suhandinata Cup competitionon October 25th.  As reported earlier in the Thai press, three-time defending girls’ singles champion Ratchanok Intanon is giving the event a miss this year (see here).  Both singles stars from India, Sameer Verma and P.V. Sindhu, are still on the list, but reports last week say that they are both out with injuries (see here).

All other past and defending champions who are still eligible will be in attendance, including 2010 boys’ singles champion Viktor Axelsen, who will begin at the individual stage as Denmark is not participating in the team competition.  Apart from Sindhu, all current Asian Junior Champions will also be on hand to add new titles to their collections.

The girls’ singles is still likely to attract the keenest interest, despite the absence of Intanon and Sindhu.  2011 Asian Junior Champion Sun Yu of China, this year’s Asian runner-up Nozomi Okuhara of Japan and Malaysia Grand Prix Gold winner Busanan Ongbamrungphan will all be in the challenger roles, however, as Chinese Taipei’s Tai Tzu Ying is now clearly the top contender after her recent gold medal runs in both her home Grand Prix Gold and the Japan Open Superseries.

Click here for the complete entry lists