The first day of the U16 SHONAI Invitational 2025 was a busy and exciting one for New Zealand’s junior representatives in Tsuruoka, Japan.
Amy Wang (North Harbour) put on an impressive showing in her group stage matches. Amy secured two wins out of three, with some very tight matches across the board. She recorded a straight games victory over Japan’s Chinari Kuronuma (21-18, 21-17), before fighting through two close three-games. She fell just short against Indonesia’s Kalia Rahmadani (14-21, 21-11, 21-16) and came out on top againstSpain’s Belen Soto (21-15, 18-21, 21-17). Her results earned her a Top 2 finish in her group, qualifying her for the quarterfinals to play for positions 1–8.
Lucas Qin (Waikato) completed his group stage matches against Denmark’s Axel Boesen (12-21, 8-21), Korea’s Yong Ho Kang (11-21, 12-21), and solid win against Japan’s Itto Takahashi (21-16, 21-12). He will now continue in the 9–16 bracket for the next stage of the tournament to gain further international match experience. Lucas now moves into the 9–16 bracket for the next stage of the tournament, where he will continue to gain valuable experience against high-level international opponents.
The action continues today with quarterfinal matches as Amy and Lucas look to finish strongly in their respective brackets.
Follow the full schedule and results here: https://tinyurl.com/U16ShonaiResults