Lakshya Sen and HS Prannoy’s campaigns at the Malaysia Masters 2026 badminton tournament ended on Wednesday as both Indian badminton players lost their opening round matches at the Stadium Axiata Arena in Kuala Lumpur.
Paris 2024 semi-finalist Lakshya Sen, India’s top men’s singles player in the badminton rankings at 11, was stunned 21-17, 21-11 in straight games by Zaki Ubaidillah of Indonesia in the opening rounds.
The world No. 38 Ubaidillah and Sen were tied at 14-all in the opening game before the Indonesian broke away to seal the contest in 43 minutes.
Meanwhile, HS Prannoy, who won the BWF Super 500 tournament in 2023, bowed out after enduring a one-hour-and-20-minute-long marathon against Japan’s world No. 9 Kodai Naraoka.
After losing the opener, HS Prannoy saved a match point to force a decider, which saw the Indian shuttler squander four match points of his own before finally losing 17-21, 22-20, 22-24.
Tharun Mannepalli also let slip an advantage to lose 21-17, 14-21, 8-21 against Chinese Taipei’s Wang Po-Wei while Kiran George was forced to retire midway into his match against seventh seed Alex Lanier of France – the world No. 10.
The series of exits wrapped up India’s men’s singles campaign in Malaysia.
Malvika Bansod kept the Indian interest alive in women’s singles by defeating German Olympian Yvonne Li 21-17, 16-21, 21-9 in exactly an hour. Ashmita Chaliha, having made it through the qualifiers, advanced to the second round with a 21-16, 21-13 victory over Indonesia’s Thalita Ramadhani Wiryawan.
Devika Sihag also progressed by defeating the Republic of Korea’s Park Ga Eun 19-21, 21-18, 21-19 in a thriller.
Anmol Kharb, meanwhile, went down 21-13, 16-21, 19-21 in a close match against Danish eighth seed Line Højmark Kjærsfeldt. Tanya Hemnath didn’t offer as much resistance to lose 21-19, 21-7 to Chinese Taipei’s Huang Ching Ping.
Tanvi Sharma succumbed to a 21-10, 21-19 loss against Thailand’s Pitchamon Opatniputh. Isharani Baruah also lost 17-21, 21-14, 18-21 against Danish fifth seed Line Christophersen.
In women’s doubles, Rutaparna Panda and Swetaparna Panda’s 21-7, 21-6 loss to Japanese second seeds Rin Iwanaga and Kie Nakanishi – the world No. 7 duo – ended India’s challenge in the badminton category.
Ashwini Bhat K/Shikha Gautam bowed out on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, in mixed doubles, Sathwik Reddy Kanapuram/Radhika Sharma beat Scotland’s Alexander Dunn and Julie MacPherson 16-21, 21-14, 21-18 to advance.
Ashith Surya/Amrutha Pramuthesh lost 21-13, 21-18 to the Indonesian pair of Bobby Setiabudi and Melati Daeva Oktavianti.
Rohan Kapoor/Ruthvika Shivani Gadde lost to Indonesia’s Amri Syahnawi and Nita Violina Marwah 15-21, 22-20, 10-21 later in the day.
PV Sindhu and Satwik-Chirag are not competing in the BWF Super 500 tournament this year.
READ MORE: https://www.olympics.com/en/news/malaysia-masters-2026-badminton-india-day-2-report
