India’s Ayush Shetty’s Singapore Badminton Open 2026 campaign ended early after suffering a first-round exit at the hands of World Championships medallist Victor Lai of Canada on Tuesday.
Ayush Shetty, 20th in the men’s singles badminton rankings, lost 11-21, 21-14, 21-12 against world No. 12 Victor Lai in an hour and five minutes at the Singapore Indoor Stadium.
The Indian badminton player began brightly, racing to an 11-3 lead at the mid-game break before wrapping up the opener.
Victor Lai then stormed back into the contest in the second game, opening up a huge 11-2 lead before drawing level and forcing the match into a decider.
The deciding game of the contest followed a similar pattern to the first as Victor Lai dominated the action from start to finish and comfortably closed the contest to enter the second round.
This was Victor Lai’s first win in two matches against Asian Championships silver medallist Ayush Shetty.
Meanwhile, two-time Olympic medallist PV Sindhu, 11th in the women’s singles rankings, registered a commanding 21-17, 21-18 win over world No. 6 Putri Kusuma Wardani of Indonesia.
Sindhu made a bright start but World Championships bronze medallist Putri Kusuma Wardani battled back to open up an 11-7 advantage in the opening game.
The Indian shuttler then responded strongly, drawing level at 16-all before reeling off four consecutive points en route to clinching the opener.
Sindhu carried her momentum into the second game, but Putri Kusuma Wardani stayed within touching distance at 18-all.
However, Sindhu held her nerve in the closing stages, reeling off three successive points to seal the contest and register her third win against the Indonesian in six meetings.
Sindhu’s compatriot Unnati Hooda, though, was ousted in the first round following a 21-14, 21-10 loss to eighth seed Tomoka Miyazaki of Japan.
In the men’s doubles, fourth seeds Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty rallied to beat the USA’s Chen Zhi Yi and Presley Smith 26-28, 21-15, 21-13.
India’s other doubles men’s pair – MR Arjun and Hariharan Amsakarunan – lost their opener 21-15, 21-13 against seventh seeds Takuro Hoki and Yugo Kobayashi of Japan.
Both Indian women’s doubles pairs in action on Tuesday were also ousted in the opening round.
Kavipriya Selvam and Simran Singhi won the first game but lost the next two, falling to a 18-21, 21-13, 21-5 defeat against Paula Lopez and Lucia Rodriguez of Spain.
Ashwini Bhat K and Shikha Gautam suffered a 21-16, 21-11 defeat against Chang Ching-hui and Yang Ching-Tun of Chinese Taipei.
India’s mixed doubles duo of Rohan Kapoor and Ruthvika Shivani Gadde also lost their first round match after going down 21-18, 22-20 against Chinese Taipei’s Chang Ching-hui and Yang Ching-Tun.
Paris 2024 semi-finalist Lakshya Sen, HS Prannoy and Malvika Bansod will begin their Singapore Badminton Open campaigns on Wednesday.
read more: https://www.olympics.com/en/news/singapore-badminton-open-2026-day-1-report
