Denmark Secures Ninth Place at Junior Badminton World Championships in Cairo

Denmark’s U19 national badminton team finished ninth in the team tournament at the Suhandinata Cup junior world championships, securing five victories across six ties in a 47-nation field at the Cairo Stadium Indoor Halls Complex.

Five Wins and a Playoff Exit in Egypt

The Danish junior squad competed in Egypt from October 5 to October 10, according to records from Badminton Danmark. Across the team event, the squad posted five victories in six outings. Their lone defeat arrived in a 0-2 playoff against Thailand, a side that ultimately claimed the bronze medal. Following the team competition, the contingent remained in Cairo for the individual tournament bracket, which concluded on October 17 without yielding any Danish medals before the squad traveled back to Denmark after a two-week stay.

Tournament organizers altered the initial bracket shortly before competition began. August’s preliminary draw placed Denmark in a group alongside Japan, seeded third or fourth, and New Zealand. A revised draw moved the Danish squad into subgroup H2 alongside South Korea and Cyprus. Denmark opened group play by defeating the ninth-to-sixteenth seeded South Koreans 2-1 before sweeping Cyprus 2-0 to advance to the playoff stage against Thailand.

China ultimately captured the tournament title by defeating Malaysia in the final, while Indonesia joined Thailand in securing the bronze medals. The defeat to Thailand dropped Denmark into the classification bracket for ninth through sixteenth places. The team responded by defeating England, Turkey, and finally the United States to secure ninth place, leaving the U.S. in tenth.

New Scoring Format and Tournament Context

The team matches in Cairo utilized the Badminton World Federation’s updated 3×55-point system. The governing body tested a 3×45-point format the previous year in Guwahati.

Denmark’s finish was a ninth-place finish. In the 2022 championships in Santander, they defeated Hong Kong and Ukraine before falling 1-4 to Malaysia in the ninth-place playoff and finished as number ten. In the 2024 edition held in Nanchang, the Danish juniors reached the quarterfinal round before elimination by Malaysia. The Cairo tournament itself shifted venues in May after Indonesia relinquished hosting duties, marking the first time since 2002 that a major BWF championship took place on the African continent.

The thirteen players representing Denmark in Cairo were Sebastian Mønster Andersen, Mikkel Eilersen Bouet, Frederik Hinding, Maximilian Ørding Kauffmann, Elias Martin, Birk Norman, Aske Rømer, Diya Mary Cherian, Ida Nissen, Filippa Pedersen, Julie Søgaard, Athene Lyduch Thornild, and Anna Louise Winther. Coaching duties were handled by Jonas Lyduch, Kasper Dinesen, and Frank Larsen, with Lars Uhre serving as talent development manager for Badminton Danmark.