Olympic medallist PV Sindhu’s campaign at the Badminton Asia Championships 2026 in Ningbo, the People’s Republic of China, ended in the second round on Thursday.
Up against China’s Wang Zhi Yi, the current world No. 2 and a two-time former Asian champion, PV Sindhu lost 21-18, 21-8 in 46 minutes.
PV Sindhu, 13th in the badminton rankings, found herself trailing 14-9 in the opening but showed some grit against the local favourite to claw the scores back to 18-19.
However, the Indian badminton player couldn’t follow through as Wang Zhi Yi stepped up to take the next couple of points and the win.
The second game was a lopsided affair in favour of the Chinese shuttler, who edged out Sindhu 4-3 in the head-to-head record courtesy of Thursday’s win.
Sindhu, who was returning to the court for the first time since January at the Ningbo meet, had survived a three-game affair against Wong Ling Ching of Malaysia in the opening round.
Meanwhile, Unnati Hooda, who had upset world No. 11 Supanida Katethong of Thailand in the first round on Wednesday, lost to Japan’s Tomoka Miyazaki 21-17, 21-9 on Thursday, drawing the curtains on India’s women’s singles challenge.
One Indian player who managed to build on his opening round success was Ayush Shetty.
Having upset world No. 7 and reigning Asian Games champion Li Shi Feng in the opening round, Ayush Shetty looked equally convincing as he beat Chi Yu Jen of Chinese Taipei 21-16, 21-12 in 41 minutes to qualify for the men’s singles quarter-finals.
Ayush Shetty, the 2025 US Open winner, will face Jonatan Christie of Indonesia, the gold medallist from 2024, next.
With HS Prannoy losing 21-12, 21-19 to China’s Weng Hong Yang elsewhere, Shetty is now the only Indian challenge still alive in the competition.
India’s mixed doubles run in Ningbo also folded with Dhruv Kapila and Tanisha Crasto losing 21-13, 21-14 to world No. 4 Chen Tang Jie and Toh Ee Wei of Malaysia.
Priya Konjengbam-Shruti Mishra lost 21-10, 21-13 to Japan’s Yuki Fukushima and Mayu Matsumoto, bringing an end to India’s women’s doubles campaign at the continental championships.
Lakhsya Sen bowed out in the opening round while Satwiksairaj Rankireddy-Chirag Shetty and Treesa Jolly-Gayatri Gopichand had pulled out before the meet started.
read more: https://www.olympics.com/en/news/badminton-asia-championships-2026-india-day-3-results-report
