Victor Lai Steps Into Spotlight

Canada’s Victor Lai announced his arrival on the big stage, knocking out Lu Guang Zu as the TotalEnergies BWF World Championships 2025 continued to throw up surprises.

Day 3 had started with the upset of mixed doubles favourites Feng Yan Zhe/Huang Dong Ping, and constantly produced fresh twists, with Lai emerging one of the day’s show-stealers with his calm dismantling of the 11^th seeded Chinese.

The Canadian, who has enjoyed a breakthrough season winning the Pan Am Championships and finishing runner-up at the Canada Open, was never flustered despite Lu taking the opening game comfortably. The world No.50 stayed patient in the rallies and worked his openings, unafraid to challenge his opponent in the rallies. Lu’s frustrations boiled over, and his shots were all over the place as Lai took his place in the Round of 16 with the 13-21 21-12 21-10 result.

“I’ve been underdog for a while, and it feels good, because I don’t have too much pressure,” said Lai. “I just go and play my best. And I think I have to enjoy that, because it’s not always that you’ll be underdog.

“To be honest, in the beginning, I was a little bit nervous. In the first game he was really dominating me with his attacks, I couldn’t get it back. But after the second game, I felt like I was controlling him and I felt very confident going to the third.”

“I think Canada is slowly rising on the world stage. At the Sudirman Cup, we almost beat Korea, it was very close. We’re showing that we can compete. It really helped that I had a couple of fans in the audience. They helped me stay motivated and stay focused. But I know that, against such a good player. I cannot be too emotional, because there’s a lot of ups and downs. So the key thing was just to stay calm and composed.

The highlight of the morning was the sensational downing of top seeds Feng/Huang by Mathias Christiansen/Alexandra BØje, who had only recently returned after a year away from competition. The Danes, who won their first tournament on their return in Macau recently, showed no sign of rust, and held their own in the quickfire exchanges to wear down the Chinese.

“This feels right up there,” said Christiansen. “It feels incredible, especially with such a tight match, a long three-game match. We are very happy and very relieved that we got the win, also with a lot of Danish people in the arena cheering for us.”

The day had more in store for Denmark. Rasmus KjÆr/Frederik SØgaard bounced back from a 11-17 deficit against Sabar Karyaman Gutama/Moh Reza Pahlevi Isfahani, saving two match points in a topsy-turvy end game to win 21-18 18-21 26-24.

And then men’s singles second seed Anders Antonsen, staring at an early exit against HS Prannoy, conjured up a comeback win at 21-8 17-21 23-21 to wrap up a brilliant day for the Danes.

“We’ve had those kinds of matches, a lot of times, where we leave the court feeling like we were maybe the better pair but we’ve just lost a lot of close ones,” said Kjaer. “We were down 11-17 in the third and we stuck to it. We kept fighting. And so it’s nice to for once be the pair who didn’t deserve to win, I think it’s fair to say to the Indonesians, but we’re very happy we did, and we can’t wait to play again.”

Other Highlights

» Indonesia’s rising star Alwi Farhan made the third round beating 12^th seed Lin Chun-Yi 21-17 22-20.

» It was a bright day for Pan Am, with Victor Lai’s compatriot Michelle Li also taking her place in the third round, and USA’s pairs giving a great account of their abilities.

» Chen Zhi Yi/Presley Smith had third seeds Nur Izzuddin/Goh Sze Fei in trouble, with the Malaysians just about passing it past them, 19-21 21-10 21-17.

» Lauren Lam/Allison Lee pushed third seeds Kim Hye Jeong/Kong Hee Yong close before falling 21-19 21-9.

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