Top seed Shi Yu Qi, riding a wave of form this season, will expect a strong challenge in his opening round at the TotalEnergies BWF World Championships 2025 as he runs into Lakshya Sen.
Shi has won three HSBC BWF World Tour Super 1000 titles this season, making him a strong contender for his first World Championships gold medal. However, Sen – who placed fourth at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games a year ago – could pose a stiff test for the top seed, given that he has a 1-3 record against Shi, with their last match, at the KAPAL API Indonesia Open 2025 in June, going the distance.

The Shi Yu Qi-Lakshya Sen encounter was among several interesting early matchups that emerged with the draws for the World Championships being conducted today at the BWF head office in Kuala Lumpur. The electronic draw was conducted by Patricia Law, Sales & Marketing Director of TotalEnergies Marketing Malaysia Sdn Bhd, and assisted by BWF Technical Events Manager Matthieu Hecker. BWF Referee Pencho Stoynov observed and approved the draw.
Among the other interesting opening encounters was French star Toma Junior Popov against former world No.2 Anthony Sinisuka Ginting. The two had run into each other a year ago at the Paris Olympics, where Popov delivered one of the biggest upsets of the event by beating Ginting.
In women’s singles, defending champion An Se Young will expect to have smooth passage until the third round, where she could run into 16th seed Michelle Li.

The World Championships will feature 382 players from 53 Members. For the first time, both the men’s singles and women’s singles will have an equal draw of 64. The men’s doubles, women’s doubles and mixed doubles have a draw of 48 pairs each.
BWF President Khunying Patama Leeswadtrakul welcomed the online audience to the draw ceremony.
“This year we are honoured to bring this important event back to Paris, a city that has long inspired the world with its elegance, energy and passion for sport,” Leeswadtrakul said. “Just last year, Paris proudly hosted the Olympic Games, and 15 years ago, it welcomed the World Championships. Now it takes centre stage once again to celebrate the very best of badminton.”
Click here for the full draws:
→Men’s Singles
→Women’s Singles
→Men’s Doubles
→Women’s Doubles
→Mixed Doubles