India’s Kidambi Srikanth pushed reigning world champion Alex Lanier of France all the way before bowing out in the second round of the Denmark Open 2026 badminton men’s singles event on Thursday.
Kidambi Srikanth lost the match 11-21, 21-15, 21-15 in an hour and six minutes to crash out of the BWF Super 750 event.
The former world No. 1 Indian badminton player had looked the likelier winner for long stretches, taking the opening game comfortably and then leading 15-13 in the decider.
Srikanth, currently 31st in the rankings, however, could not hold on, losing eight points on the trot as Lanier, world No. 8, surged to the finish.
Srikanth’s loss ended India’s challenge in men’s events at the BWF Super 750 event. Lakshya Sen and Ayush Shetty had bowed out in the opening round while Satwiksairaj Rankireddy-Chirag Shetty suffered a shock early exit in doubles.
There was better news in the women’s doubles, where Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand upset fifth seeds Rachel Allessya Rose and Febi Setianingrum of Indonesia 21-16, 21-17 to reach the quarter-finals.
Treesa-Gayatri, who made the quarter-finals at the Asian Games 2026 in Japan, trailed 11-9 in the first game but bounced back to take the lead. The second game was one-way traffic in favour of the Indians.
Ashmita Chaliha, meanwhile, found third seed and three-time world champion Akane Yamaguchi of Japan a step too far, going down 21-18, 21-10 after an inspired showing in the first game.
Tanvi Sharma beat Germany’s Yvonne Li, who had knocked out Indian ace PV Sindhu in the opening round on Tuesday, 21-17, 21-19 in her second-round match. She will face the Republic of Korea’s An Se-young, the top seed, in the quarters.
Unnati Hooda’s campaign also ended on Wednesday.
read more: https://www.olympics.com/en/news/denmark-open-2026-badminton-india-day-3-report
