India’s top men’s doubles duo, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty, suffered another injury setback on their return to action as they had to pull out midway during their first-round match at the Japan Open 2026 badminton tournament on Tuesday.
Competing in Tokyo, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty, fourth in the men’s doubles badminton rankings, lost the first game 21-19 against world No. 16 Daniel Lundgaard and Mads Vestergaard of Denmark before conceding the contest.
The reigning Asian Games men’s doubles champions were returning to action for the first time since Satwik aggravated a shoulder injury during the opening round of the Indonesia Open last month.
Satwik looked troubled by the same injury on Tuesday, which had sidelined the pair from four tournaments, just weeks after they ended a two-year BWF World Tour title drought by winning the Singapore Open in May.
India’s other men’s doubles duo MR Arjun and Hariharan Amsakarunan also exited in the first round after losing 21-13, 17-21, 21-7 against Lee Jhe-huei and Yang Po-hsuan of Chinese Taipei.
In the women’s singles badminton event, two-time Olympic medallist PV Sindhu sailed into the second round after a 21-14, 21-11 win over Wong Ling Ching of Malaysia.
World No. 10 PV Sindhu controlled the match from the outset, dictating the rallies to open a 7-4 lead. Wong Ling Ching stayed in touch early but a series of unforced errors allowed the Indian to extend her advantage to 11-6 at the interval.
PV Sindhu then mixed her strokes effectively and moved to a 14-9 advantage before Wong Ling Ching failed to capitalise on a few errors, allowing the Indian badminton player to earn seven game points and seal the opener.
The Indian shuttler carried the momentum into the second game, racing to an 8-2 lead before taking an 11-3 cushion at the interval.
Wong Ling Ching continued to struggle with her accuracy as PV Sindhu brought up 10 match points and made the most of her second to seal the contest in 35 minutes.
This was PV Sindhu’s third win in as many matches against Wong Ling Ching.
Meanwhile, Olympian Tanisha Crasto and Dhruv Kapila entered the mixed doubles second round after defeating Scotland’s Alexander Dunn and Julie Macpherson 21-16, 21-14.
Rohan Kapoor and Ruthvika Shivani Gadde were knocked out after losing their mixed doubles opener 21-11, 21-10 to top seeds and world No. 1 Feng Yanzhe and Huang Dongping of the People’s Republic of China.
India’s Lakshya Sen and Unnati Hooda will be seen in first-round singles action at the BWF Super 750 tournament on Wednesday.
READ MORE: https://www.olympics.com/en/news/japan-open-2026-badminton-india-day-1-report
