Azerbaijan had their moment in the sun today with world No.91 Ade Resky Dwicahyo beating Koki Watanabe, ranked 72 places above him, to make the second round of the TotalEnergies BWF World Championships 2025.
“It’s a big story for us, because this is my fourth World Championships. This time I beat a top 20 player from Japan, they are a strong country in badminton, and this is big for us in Azerbaijan.”
Dwicahyo, who hails from Indonesia and moved to Azerbaijan seven years ago, led the Japanese throughout, except for a brief period midway in the opening game. The 21-19 21-18 result gave him a second round appointment with former teammate Jonatan Christie.

“It was tough for me, because I know him, he’s top 20 in the world, but I just played with what I have, my skill and technique, and the big thing is I just believed in myself.
“The challenge was that I was not confident before the match. But I talked with my coach, and we did some warmup, and then I felt better in my body and my mind. And on court, I played with nothing to lose.”
The 27-year-old said a month-long training camp in Malaysia before the World Championships helped.
“Also we had a tournament before we came here. So it was good, good training, good atmosphere and good sparring. So we were ready for this tournament.”
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