[Saba Sports News] The list of winners for the 2025 Badminton World Federation (BWF) Player of the Year has been released. Chinese Olympic champion Wang Yilu was quick to express his doubts on social media, sparking strong attention from fans. Wang’s concerns primarily focused on the award for Best Mixed Doubles Pair, which was given to the Thai duo of Dechapol Puavaranukroh and Supissara PAEWSAMPRAN. The two Chinese pairs nominated, Feng Yanzhe/Huang Dongping and Jiang Zhenbang/Wei Yaxin, did not win.
Objectively speaking, the mixed doubles category had significant suspense in this year’s awards, as the performance differences among the four nominated pairs were minimal. The Malaysian duo of Chen Tang Jie/Toh Ee Wei won the prestigious World Championship title; however, they didn’t secure a single championship in any BWF Super 750 or higher events. In contrast, Dechapol/Supissara had the best results in the BWF Tour, claiming one championship and one runner-up in Super 1000 events and two championships and two runner-up finishes in Super 750 events.
Looking at the top two pairs in the world rankings from China, Feng Yanzhe/Huang Dongping won a championship and a runner-up finish in Super 1000 events and two championships in Super 750 events this year, totaling seven championships, which is the highest among the four pairs. Jiang Zhenbang/Wei Yaxin were runners-up at the Badminton World Championships in mixed doubles, achieving one runner-up finish in Super 1000 events and two championships and one runner-up finish in Super 750 events.
In summary, while the performance gaps among the four pairs are not significant, the greater number of titles won by Feng Yanzhe/Huang Dongping had them favored to win leading up to the awards.