Indian shuttlers suffered a disappointing day at the BWF World Championships 2026 on Thursday, with PV Sindhu and rising star Ayush Shetty bowing out in the round of 16 ending their singles challenge in New Delhi.
PV Sindhu, ninth in the women’s singles badminton rankings, lost 21-11, 15-21, 21-17 against world No. 3 Wang Zhiyi of the People’s Republic of China at the Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium in New Delhi.
Two-time Olympic medallist PV Sindhu trailed Wang Zhiyi 11-9 at the interval in the opener before six unforced errors after the break allowed the Chinese shuttler to seize control and wrap up the first game.
The second game was a much tighter affair, with PV Sindhu and Wang Zhiyi tied at 15-all before the Indian reeled off six straight points to force a decider.
The decider remained closely contested, with Sindhu and Wang level at 16-16. However, the Chinese shuttler shifted gears, winning five of the next six points to seal her place in the next round.
Wang Zhiyii now leads PV Sindhu 6-3 in their head-to-head having also beaten the Indian at both the Malaysia Open and Badminton Asia Championships earlier this year.
Meanwhile, Ayush Shetty’s impressive run at the BWF World Championships came to an end with a 21-19, 21-11 defeat to 11th seed Alwi Farhan of Indonesia.
The Indian badminton player made a bright start, opening up a 3-0 lead before trailing 11-10 at the interval.
Ayush Shetty then fought back from 18-14 down to take a 19-18 lead with five straight points and move within sight of taking the opening game. However, Farhan held his nerve, winning the next three points to seal the opening game.
The second game was more straightforward for Alwi Farhan, who took control early and led 11-5 at the break before closing out the match in 45 minutes.
The defeat was Ayush Shetty’s third in four meetings against Farhan. The Indian had earlier produced one of the biggest upsets of the tournament in the opening round on Monday, knocking out defending champion and world No. 1 Shi Yuqi of China.
In the men’s doubles, India’s Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty advanced to the quarter-finals after rallying from behind to beat Malaysia’s Junaidi Arif and Yap Roy King 21-23, 21-19, 21-17.
Indian Commonwealth Games medallists Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand advanced to the quarter-finals of the women’s doubles after a 21-16, 21-12 victory over seventh seeds Rin Iwanaga and Kie Nakanishi of Japan.
However, India’s mixed doubles campaign at the World Championships came to an end after 15th seeds Dhruv Kapila and Tanisha Crasto lost 21-16, 21-5 against sixth-seeded Guo Xinwa and Chen Fanghui of the People’s Republic of China.
India’s other mixed doubles pairs of Rohan Kapoor-Ruthvika Gadde and Ashith Surya-Amrutha Pramuthesh had earlier lost their opening-round matches.
READ MORE: https://www.olympics.com/en/news/bwf-world-championships-2026-badminton-india-day-4-report
