Two-time Olympic medallist and former world champion PV Sindhu suffered a shock exit in the first round of the women’s singles at the Denmark Open 2026 badminton tournament on Tuesday.
India’s PV Sinhu, 10th in the women’s singles badminton rankings, lost 13-21, 25-23, 21-19 against world No. 50 Yvonne Li of Germany at the SJF Bank Arena in Odense.
The defeat at the BWF Super 750 tournament was Sindhu’s first loss in four meetings against Yvonne Li.
PV Sindhu dominated the opening game but was edged out in a tie-break in the second, despite the Indian saving five game points.
In the decider, Sindhu had the upper hand at 12-7 and then 19-15 before Li produced a stunning six-point burst to win the contest.
Yvonne Li will now face Tanvi Sharma in the second round after the Indian badminton player secured a hard-earned 21-17, 16-21, 21-19 win against Japan’s Natsuki Nidaira.
Elsewhere, Lakshya Sen’s rocky year on the BWF World Tour circuit continued after he lost 21-18, 13-21, 21-15 to world No. 3 and sixth seed Chou Tien-chen of Chinese Taipei.
The defeat was Lakshya Sen’s fifth first-round exit in his last six tournaments on the BWF World Tour and also his fifth loss in 10 matches against Chou Tien-chen.
The first game was a neck-and-neck battle, with Lakshya Sen even leading 18-15 at one stage before Chou Tien-chen rallied to pick up six straight points and clinch the opener.
Lakshya Sen fought back in the second game by surging to an 11-6 lead before closing it out in comfortable fashion to take the match into a decider.
However, Chou Tien-chen dominated the final game from the outset en route to victory.
Former world No. 1 Kidambi Srikanth, who won the Denmark Open in 2017, enjoyed better fortunes in his first-round clash as he beat France’s Arnaud Merklé 22-20, 21-19.
Meanwhile, India’s doubles campaign will get underway on Wednesday with Satwiksairaj Rankireddy-Chirag Shetty and Treesa Jolly-Gayatri Gopichand in action in the men’s and women’s draws, respectively.
read more: https://www.olympics.com/en/news/denmark-open-2026-badminton-india-day-1-report
