Men’s badminton world number one Shi Yuqi has been drawn against India’s Lakshya Sen in the first round of the 2025 BWF World Championships, which take place from 25–31 August in Paris, France. The tournament will be available to stream (territorial restrictions apply) live on Olympic Channel via Olympics.com and the Olympics mobile apps.
Shi, the Chinese top seed, will have to face an opponent who has pushed him hard in all four of their meetings, although he does hold the career head-to-head over Sen at 3–1.
They last met in June at the Indonesia Open, when Shi won 21-11, 20-22, 21-15; Sen’s win came at the 2022 Asian Games held in 2023, also in a three-game contest. In their other two meetings, Shi won both in straight games without outclassing Sen.
Meanwhile, both Lee Zii Jia of Malaysia and Indonesia’s Anthony Sinisuka Ginting will enter as unseeded players after injury-hit years.
While Lee has drawn fellow unseeded player Jeon Hyeokjin of Republic of Korea, Ginting faces a tougher opponent in Toma Junior Popov of hosts France, the 15th seed.
Thailand’s defending world champion Kunlavut Vitidsarn, the third seed, plays El Salvador’s Uriel Canjura, while ninth-seeded 2021 world champ Loh Kean Yew of Singapore will take on Georges Julien Paul of Mauritius in the round of 64. Jonatan Christie, Indonesia’s fifth seed, faces unseeded German Matthias Kicklitz.
Olympic champion Viktor Axelsen, who is recovering from surgery to repair a herniated disc, will not be participating in Paris after withdrawing last week to focus on rehab.
In the women’s singles draw, world number one An Seyoung of Republic of Korea takes on Belgian Clara Lassaux in the opening round.
An appears to have a straightforward run to the semi-finals at least. The most in-form player on the BWF World Tour circuit this season, she could face the only woman to beat her directly on court this year (An also retired injured while behind in a match against Han Yue) — Chen Yufei from People’s Republic of China — in the last four.
However, to get there, the fourth-seeded Chen, who was An’s predecessor as Olympic champion, would have to potentially get past sixth seed Pornpawee Chochuwong of Thailand in the quarter-finals. Chen’s opening contest is against Frenchwoman Anna Tatranova.
India’s PV Sindhu, the 15th seed, takes on Bulgarian Kaloyana Nalbantova in the first round and could end up facing second seed Wang Zhiyi in the round of 16.