Two-time Olympic medallist PV Sindhu survived a dramatic deciding-game wobble to reach the women’s singles second round at the French Open 2026 badminton tournament in Paris on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, Ayush Shetty came from a game down to beat former world No. 1 Kidambi Srikanth, while Lakshya Sen withdrew ahead of his opening-round match.
Sindhu, 10th in the badminton rankings, beat Thailand’s world No. 26 Supanida Katethong 21-14, 8-21, 23-21 in 64 minutes at the Arena Grand Paris and will face Japan’s Riko Gunji in the second round.
Riko Gunji beat a spirited Unnati Hooda 21-18, 12-21, 21-17 in their opening-round encounter earlier in the day.
PV Sindhu went into the first mid-game interval with a two-point lead before gradually taking control. Supanida Katethong responded convincingly in the second game to force a decider.
Sindhu rediscovered her rhythm in the third and appeared on course for a comfortable victory after racing to a 19-8 lead.
However, Supanida Katethong reeled off 11 consecutive points as PV Sindhu struggled to close out the contest, drawing level at 19-19.
The Indian shuttler eventually stopped the slide and held her nerve under pressure to take the deciding game 23-21 and seal her place in the round of 16.
It was PV Sindhu’s sixth victory over Supanida Katethong in their 10 meetings.
Ayush Shetty joined Sindhu in the second round after coming from behind to beat compatriot Kidambi Srikanth 19-21, 21-16, 21-12.
The two Indian badminton players were locked at 11-11 in the opening game before Srikanth broke free and held on to take the lead.
Ayush responded strongly in the second game and never allowed Srikanth to move ahead as he levelled the contest to force a decider.
Srikanth opened up an early four-point advantage in the third game, but Ayush fought back to lead 11-9 at the change of ends.
The decider remained closely fought before Ayush took complete control. Leading 14-12, the youngster reeled off seven consecutive points to seal the match and advance to the second round.
Ayush will next face sixth seed Kodai Naraoka of Japan.
Naraoka progressed after Lakshya Sen withdrew ahead of their scheduled first-round match.
Elsewhere in the women’s singles, Devika Sihag pushed fifth seed Putri Kusuma Wardani of Indonesia to three games before going down 21-9, 16-21, 22-20.
In the women’s doubles, Rutaparna Panda and Swetaparna Panda bowed out after losing 21-6, 21-11 to Japan’s Ririna Hiramoto and Chiharu Shida.
On Tuesday, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy-Chirag Shetty and Treesa Jolly-Gayatri Gopichand suffered opening-round exits, while Tanvi Sharma and Ashmita Chaliha progressed to the women’s singles second round.
read more: https://www.olympics.com/en/news/french-open-2026-badminton-india-day-2-report
