India’s Lakshya Sen suffered a shock exit from the BWF World Championships 2026 after losing to USA’s Garret Tan in the men’s singles round of 32 in New Delhi on Wednesday.
The world No. 14 Indian badminton player went down 19-21, 21-19, 21-17 to the 92nd-ranked American at the Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium.
After two closely fought games, Lakshya found himself in trouble at the mid-game interval of the decider as Garret Tan raced to an 11-4 lead.
Lakshya, however, mounted a spirited fightback, including a six-point burst, to close the deficit to just one point at 17-16.
Garret Tan regained control to move ahead before earning four match points at 20-16. Lakshya saved the first, but the American converted the next to complete the upset.
Lakshya won a bronze medal on his Badminton World Championships debut in 2021 but has not been able to replicate that run in subsequent editions. He exited in the round of 16 in 2022 and 2023 before suffering a first-round defeat last year.
Former world champion PV Sindhu, meanwhile, advanced to the pre-quarterfinals with a straight-game win over Canada’s Wen Yu Zhang.
The ninth-seeded Indian beat the world No. 49 Canadian 21-16, 21-17 in 35 minutes to book her place in the round of 16.
Sindhu will next face world No. 3 Wang Zhi Yi of the People’s Republic of China.
Wang Zhi Yi leads PV Sindhu 5-3 in their head-to-head rivalry and beat the Indian at both the Malaysia Open and Badminton Asia Championships earlier this year.
Sindhu, however, defeated the Chinese shuttler in the pre-quarterfinals of the BWF World Championships last year.
Ayush Shetty continued his impressive run with a commanding 21-8, 21-10 win over Sri Lanka’s Dumindu Abeywickrama in the men’s singles round of 32.
The world No. 22 Indian needed just 26 minutes to beat the 87th-ranked Sri Lankan and book his place in the pre-quarterfinals.
The 21-year-old Ayush had produced the biggest upset of the opening round on Monday, knocking out defending champion and world No. 1 Shi Yu Qi of China in three games on his World Championships debut.
Ayush will next face Indonesia’s 11th seed Alwi Farhan, who holds a 2-1 advantage over the Indian in their senior head-to-head record.
Alwi beat Ayush at the Indonesia Masters and All England Open earlier this year before the Indian turned the tables with a three-game victory at the China Open in July.
The Indonesian had also defeated world No. 1 Shi Yu Qi during his run to the Singapore Open semi-finals earlier this year.
Unnati Hooda’s maiden World Badminton Championships campaign came to an end in the second round following a narrow three-game defeat to Canada’s 13th seed Michelle Li.
The 18-year-old Indian went down 11-21, 21-9, 23-21 after pushing the experienced Canadian all the way in the decider.
The 15th-seeded mixed doubles pair of Dhruv Kapila and Tanisha Crasto advanced to the pre-quarterfinals after beating Macao China’s Leong Iok Chong and Ng Weng Chi 21-11, 21-11 in just 30 minutes.
Dhruv and Tanisha will face the People’s Republic of China’s Guo Xinwa and Chen Fanghui – the sixth seeds – in the pre-quarterfinals.
Meanwhile, M R Arjun and Hariharan Amsakarunan bowed out of the men’s doubles after losing 21-17, 21-14 to the Republic of Korea’s 15th seeds Kang Min Hyuk and Ki Dong Ju in 43 minutes.
The world No. 24 Indian pair had advanced from the opening round after Ireland’s Scott Guildea and Paul Reynolds retired midway through their match.
Fifth seeds Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty advanced to the men’s doubles pre-quarterfinals without taking the court after Scotland’s Alexander Dunn and Adam Pringle withdrew from their round of 32 contest.
The two-time World Championships bronze medallists had received a bye in the opening round and are yet to play a match at this year’s tournament.
The BWF World Championships, now in its 30th edition, is being held in India for the first time since 2009 and will run from August 17 to 23.
India have won 15 medals at the World Championships and have claimed at least one medal at every edition since 2011.
READ MORE: https://www.olympics.com/en/news/bwf-world-championships-2026-badminton-india-day-3-report
