Canada threw up some searching questions for powerhouses Korea with a feisty performance in Group B of the TotalEnergies BWF Sudirman Cup Finals 2025.

New Pan Am champion Victor Lai effected the breach first up, forcing Korea to fight back from a deficit. And although the four-time champions did wrap up the tie 4-1, the likelihood of further damage hung in the air with Canada well in sight of taking a second point.

For someone aged just 20 and playing his first Sudirman Cup, Lai showed great composure as he took on veteran Jeon Hyeok Jin. The lanky Lai dominated the Korean in the opening game and then stayed steady at the death in the second, winning a marathon last rally to take Canada a point up in the tie.

“It’s my first Sudirman Cup,” said Lai. “I’ve always wanted to represent Canada on the highest stage and I’m very happy that I took my opportunity and played well and pulled an upset against Korea.

“The shuttle was slow today, so the shots to the back had to be good. Also, there were certain shots he was good at so I had to be prepared and I did a lot of match analysis to learn his strengths and weaknesses.

“Last month I won the Pan Am, so that gave me a lot of confidence, it helped me feel good about my style and I’m very happy to show my improvements. I was very nervous in the beginning, but I won the first couple of points and that sort of released the nervousness. I train with Brian Yang, he’s played the Sudirman Cup many times, and he gave me some tips on how to play those with higher ranking and not to be nervous because I’m the underdog, so I had to just play my best and show I belong with the top players.”

Korean spearhead An Se Young was expected to level the score for her team against Michelle Li, but it was far from a straightforward affair. Li had lost her previous five matches to the world No.1, but the Canadian matched her opponent shot for shot, only losing her way at the very end of both games.

Likewise, Orleans Masters champions Kang Min Hyuk/Ki Dong Ju had to fend off stubborn resistance from Ty Alexander Lindeman/Kevin Lee before securing the third point for Korea in a match that was contentious around the net.

“It shows that our level is on par, we can challenge the top teams. We could’ve won but it’s OK,” said Lindeman. “Korea are one of the favourites to win the title. So the fact that we won men’s singles, and the women’s singles and men’s doubles could have gone our way, unfortunately we didn’t win, but to think that our team has gotten this strong in recent years shows all the hard work that everyone’s doing back home. We’re really proud of the team.”

“The serve situation was important and the conditions were tough,” added Kevin Lee. “There was a lot of pressure on the serve; they were trying to spin serve and I was trying to drive serve to keep them off the net. So there was a lot of pressure in those first three shots.”

Strong Show by Japan, Malaysia

In Group C, Japan and Malaysia were mostly unthreatened as they wrapped up their ties over Australia and France 5-0. Malaysia did run into a stiff challenge from Arnaud Merkle in men’s singles, but Leong Jun Hao shut the lid on the Frenchman in two close games.

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