Badminton
Sudirman Cup 2025: Can India cross the group stage hurdle after 8 years?
India has been drawn into Group D alongside Indonesia, Denmark, and England.
Satwik-Chirag, Lakshya Sen, and PV Sindhu are set to lead the Indian challenge at the Sudirman Cup 2025. (File Photo)
The draw for the 19th edition of the prestigious Sudirman Cup was revealed by the Badminton World Federation (BWF) on Thursday. India has been placed in a group with Indonesia, Denmark, and England.
The Sudirman Cup is a biennial international badminton championship contested by mixed national teams. This year, the event is set to take place in Xiamen, China, from April 27 to May 4.
The Indian team has never won a medal at the event, and the current squad is also not in its best shape. Still, the team has a good chance of reaching the last eight, which they haven't done since 2017.
Format:
Sixteen mixed national teams will compete for the championship trophy. These teams are divided equally into four groups and will face each other in a single round-robin format.
The top two teams from each group will qualify for the quarterfinals, and the winner will be decided through a single-leg knockout format.
Team Chances:
India has been drawn into Group D alongside Indonesia, Denmark, and England. None of these four teams has won a medal in the last two editions of the Sudirman Cup, making it a highly competitive "group of death."
Given the depth of the Indian team, they should comfortably get past England, which lacks many top-class pairs.
However, when looking at India's fixture against Indonesia, the former appears weaker based on current form, as Indonesia has top-quality players across all five disciplines.
Still, if India manages to win either of the two singles matches, the contest could become much more competitive, as both Indian men's and women's doubles pairs are in good form.
The final team in the group is Denmark, and this encounter could be a virtual knockout match for a quarterfinal spot. The men's singles category favors Denmark, as they have two of the world's best players.
However, in the doubles category, the match-ups are much more competitive. If India's top men's doubles pair, Satwik and Chirag, win their match, India might emerge as the favorites for the tie.
