Two-time Olympic medallist PV Sindhu cruised into the women’s singles quarter-finals of the Arctic Open 2026 badminton tournament after beating Japan’s Riko Gunji in Vantaa, Finland, on Thursday.
Sindhu, seeded sixth at the BWF Super 500 badminton event, defeated Riko Gunji 21-15, 21-15 in 49 minutes to set up a quarter-final clash against top seed and former world champion Ratchanok Intanon of Thailand.
The opening game against the Japanese shuttler was a tight affair, with the two players locked at 15-all before Sindhu reeled off six consecutive points to take the lead.
The second game followed a similar pattern. The scores were level at 13-all before the Indian badminton player provided another late flourish, winning eight of the next 10 points to seal the contest.
Friday’s PV Sindhu vs Ratchanok Intanon clash will be the first meeting between the two aces in more than four years. The Thai shuttler leads their head-to-head record 9-4 and has won their last five meetings. Their most recent clash came in the quarter-finals of the Indonesia Masters 2022, where Ratchanok won 21-12, 21-10.
Both players have won BWF World Tour titles this season. Sindhu clinched the Japan Open Super 750 in July, beating reigning world champion Akane Yamaguchi in the final.
Ratchanok’s most recent title came at the Malaysia Masters Super 500 in May, where she defeated Chen Yufei of the People’s Republic of China in the final.
Ratchanok booked her place in the Arctic Open quarter-finals by beating Tanvi Sharma 21-18, 21-7 in 34 minutes, denying an all-Indian contest in the last eight.
Tanvi, who won her maiden BWF World Tour title at the Taipei Open Super 300 in August, put up a strong fight in the opening game and stayed level with Ratchanok until 17-all.
The experienced Thai, however, pulled away in the closing stages to take the game 21-18.
The second game was a more one-sided affair. Ratchanok strung together seven consecutive points to establish a 9-2 advantage and remained in control after the interval to close out the match comfortably.
In men’s singles, Tharun Mannepalli bowed out after losing 21-14, 21-19 to second seed Christo Popov of France in the round of 16.
The Indian, who had come through qualifying before beating Denmark’s Magnus Johannesen in the opening round, went down in 50 minutes.
Tharun’s defeat ended India’s men’s singles challenge at the Super 500 tournament. Kidambi Srikanth, HS Prannoy and Rounak Chouhan had all exited in the first round on Wednesday.
India remain in contention in men’s doubles, with Krishna Prasad Garaga and Pruthvi Krishnamurthy Roy winning 21-19, 22-20 against England’s Oliver Butler and Samuel Jones in the round of 16 later on Thursday.
Krishna Prasad and Pruthvi, who had stunned fifth seeds He Ji Ting and Ren Xiang Yu of China in the opening round, will face Denmark’s Christian Faust Kjær and Rasmus Kjær in the quarter-finals on Friday.
read more: https://www.olympics.com/en/news/arctic-open-2026-badminton-india-day-3-report
