Determined in defeat: Unnati Hooda shows resilience against Michelle Li

Unnati Hooda's maiden BWF World Championships campaign ended in heartbreak on Wednesday, as the 18-year-old from Rohtak went down fighting to Canada's 13th seed Michelle Li in a second-round contest that stretched close to an hour and swung on two match points she could not convert. The scoreline read 21-11, 9-21, 21-23 in Li's favour at the Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium in New Delhi, a result that flattered neither the margin of the opening game nor the drama that followed.

A Lopsided Start

Hooda began the contest with total control, racing through the first game 21-11 and giving little indication of the twists to come. The teenager, playing her first ever main draw World Championships tie against a seeded opponent, looked composed and aggressive, dictating the tempo against the far more experienced Canadian. Li, a former Commonwealth Games and Pan American Games champion who has been on the international circuit for well over a decade, appeared unable to find any answers in the opening exchanges.

That dominance evaporated almost as quickly as it arrived. Li regrouped after the change of ends and turned the second game into a near mirror image of the first, closing it out 21-9 to level the match at one game apiece. The swing set up a decider that would ultimately define the tie and provide the signature moment of India's campaign on the day.

The Decider and the Match Points

The third game turned into a prolonged, attritional battle, with both players trading momentum deep into the closing stages. Hooda, undeterred by having surrendered the second game so comprehensively, fought her way into a lead as the game moved past the twenty-point mark, and held not one but two match points that would have completed a landmark upset over a higher-ranked, far more seasoned rival. It was the kind of position that, had it been converted, would have been framed as one of the defining results of the tournament for the Indian challenge, a teenager announcing herself on home soil against a former Commonwealth champion.

Li did not let the opportunity slip easily. Drawing on the composure that has underpinned a long and decorated career, the Canadian found the shots she needed at the most critical juncture, saving both match points and reeling off the points required to close out the decider 23-21. The final margin in the deciding game, two points won at the very end after trailing on match point, underlined how tight the contest had become and how small the difference was between a famous win and a painful loss.

The result extended Li's unbeaten record against Hooda to two matches. Their only previous meeting came at the Arctic Open in Vantaa, Finland, in October 2024, where Li won in straight games, 21-10, 21-19, without dropping a set.

The Canadian's win over Hooda continued a run of results in 2026 that have shown her capable of dragging out tight matches; earlier in the year she had needed to save a game point herself to beat compatriot Wen Yu Zhang at the Pan American Championships before eventually winning her title.

What It Means for Hooda's Campaign

For Hooda, the defeat brings an eventful World Championships debut to a close in the second round, but the manner of the loss, holding match points against a seeded, senior opponent, will likely be viewed as a marker of progress rather than pure disappointment. The teenager had already shown similar resilience earlier in the week, coming from behind against Myanmar's Thet Htar Thuzar in her opening match, winning 22-20, 21-16 after trailing in the first game. That pattern, of fighting back into contests and pushing higher-ranked players deep into deciders, has become something of a signature for the Rohtak shuttler, who produced the biggest win of her career to date when she upset former world champion P.V. Sindhu 21-16, 19-21, 21-13 at the China Open in July 2025, before Sindhu avenged that result in a rematch at the same tournament a year later.

Li, meanwhile, advances to the Round of 16 carrying the psychological upper hand of a second straight win over one of the sport's most closely watched young talents.