The Indian badminton team opens its campaign at the BWF World Junior Mixed Team Championships 2026 on Monday in Cairo, Egypt, aiming to follow up on its historic bronze medal from last year. The Suhandinata Cup runs from October 5 to 10 at the Cairo Stadium Indoor Halls Complex.
India Joins Group D1 for 2026 Suhandinata Cup
The 2026 Suhandinata Cup features 47 national teams competing at the Cairo Stadium Indoor Halls Complex for players under the age of 19. Following recent withdrawals by Nigeria and Macau China, India landed in Group D1 alongside Peru and Algeria. Group D2 contains Bulgaria, the United Arab Emirates, and Australia.
Tournament organizers have structured the groups differently this year. Most groups are split into two sub-groups. After round-robin matches wrap up within each sub-group, teams finishing in identical positions play each other. The winners of the two sub-groups then meet to decide the overall group winner, who advances directly to the quarter-finals.
Top-seeded Malaysia anchors Group A1, while second-seeded Thailand headlines Group H1, and defending champions the People’s Republic of China compete in Group E1. The mixed team event runs through October 10, immediately followed by the individual BWF World Junior Championships from October 11 to 17 at the same venue.
New Relay Scoring System
Matches at the 2026 Suhandinata Cup introduce the new 3×55 relay scoring system. Every tie is a best-of-three-set contest, with the first team to reach 55 points claiming a set.
Each set cycles through boys’ singles, girls’ singles, boys’ doubles, girls’ doubles, and mixed doubles. Play rotates at the 11, 22, 33, 44, and 55-point milestones during each set.
Indian Squad Selection
India enters the tournament without Tanvi Sharma, who secured a silver medal in the girls’ singles individual competition last year but is not part of the 2026 traveling roster. Instead, the 18-member squad features Tanvi Patri, who captured the girls’ singles Under-17 title at the Badminton Asia U17 & U15 Junior Championships after defeating teammate Shaina Manimuthu in the final.
The boys’ squad includes India Junior International Grand Prix winner Dev Ruparelia. The full roster breaks down across five categories:
- Boys’ singles: Nishchal Chand, Dev Ruparelia, Jagsher Singh Khangurra, Akhil Reddy Bobba
- Girls’ singles: Parul Choudhary, Tanvi Reddy Andluri, Shaina Manimuthu, Tanvi Patri
- Boys’ doubles: Aathish Sreenivas PV/Yogansh Singh, Pavan Suresh/Punith Suresh
- Girls’ doubles: Aanya Bisht/Angel Punera, Diya Bheemaiah B/Baruni Parshwal
- Mixed doubles: Divyansh Agrawal/Varna Prabhuanand, Yogansh Singh/Aanya Bisht
India Plays Algeria and Peru in October
All times are listed in Indian Standard Time (IST).
- October 5, Monday: India vs Algeria — 2:30 PM
- October 6, Tuesday: India vs Peru — 2:30 PM
- October 7, Wednesday: Group D play-off — Time to be determined, subject to qualification
- October 7, Wednesday: Quarter-finals — 8:30 PM, subject to qualification
- October 9, Friday: Semi-finals — 5:30 PM or 8:30 PM, subject to qualification
- October 10, Saturday: Final — 5:30 PM, subject to qualification
Live streaming for the BWF World Junior Mixed Team Championships 2026 is available on the official BWF YouTube channel. The tournament is not scheduled for live television broadcast on any channel in India.
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