Upsets abound at Badminton World Championships

[Saba Sports News] The 2025 BWF World Championships are in full swing at the Accor Arena in Paris. Although the tournament has only reached its second day, upsets have been frequent. The first day alone saw three surprises: Chinese men’s singles fourth seed Li Shifeng lost 1-2 to world No. 27 Yushi Tanaka of Japan, who is making his World Championships debut. Additionally, Malaysian star Lee Zii Jia failed to display his top form, losing 17-21, 11-21 to South Korea’s Jeon Hyeok Jin. On the second day, an even bigger upset occurred in the men’s singles when world No. 19 Koki Watanabe of Japan suffered a shock defeat (19-21, 18-21) to world No. 91 Ade Resky Dwicahyo of Azerbaijan. The latter rarely gets opportunities to play in high-level BWF World Tour events and is unfamiliar to most. In the women’s singles, Thai veteran Ratchanok Intanon also unexpectedly exited in the first round, losing 0-2 to Vietnam’s Nguyen Thuy Linh. However, every athlete competing on the World Championship stage refuses to give up easily, and some top players are inevitably susceptible to challenges.