India’s Kidambi Srikanth was knocked out of the Thailand Open 2026 badminton tournament after losing to Chinese Taipei’s Su Li Yang in his men’s singles round of 16 match at the Nimibutr Stadium in Bangkok on Thursday.
Kidambi Srikanth, who stunned former world champion and eighth seed Loh Kean Yew of Singapore in the opening round, was on the receiving end of an upset in the round of 16.
Placed 29th in the badminton rankings, former world No. 1 Srikanth succumbed to the 49th-ranked Su Li Yang by a 16-21, 21-11, 18-21 scoreline in one hour and 10 minutes.
After trading the opening two games, the decider saw Srikanth and Su Li Yang tied at 12-all in the decider before the Chinese Taipei player surged ahead to secure his first win over his Indian opponent.
Srikanth had beaten Su Li Yang at the 2023 Australian Open in straight games in their only meeting before Thursday.
Lakshya Sen, seeded seventh, defeated the People’s Republic of China’s Zhu Xuan Chen 21-12, 21-13 in 39 minutes to set up a top eight clash against home favourite Kunlavut Vitidsarn – a former world champion and Paris 2024 silver medallist.
With Srikanth’s exit, Lakshya is now the only Indian badminton player left in the men’s singles draw.
In the women’s singles, two-time Olympic medallist PV Sindhu, a Thailand Open finalist from 2018, beat Denmark’s Amalie Schulz 21-13, 21-15 in under half an hour to cruise into the quarter-finals.
However, world No. 12 Sindhu will have her work cut out for her when she faces Akane Yamaguchi of Japan – the top seed and reigning world champion – in her final eight clash on Friday.
Devika Sihag’s journey, however, ended in the second round following a 23-21, 21-11 loss to Thai shuttler Pitchamon Opatniputh in the second round.
Malvika Bansod also bowed out after losing 21-12, 21-7 to China’s Chen Yufei, the reigning Olympic champion and five-time world championship medallist.
Meanwhile, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty, who had to endure a three-game affair against an Indonesian team in the opening round, dispatched Malaysia’s Bryan Jeremy Goonting and Muhammad Haikal much more comfortably.
Satwik-Chirag, two-time former champions at the BWF Super 500 meet, won their men’s doubles encounter 21-12, 21-19 in just 44 minutes.
The top-seeded Indian pairing will go up against the Japanese sixth-seeds, Takumi Nomura and Yuichi Shimogami, in the quarters.
READ MORE: https://www.olympics.com/en/news/thailand-open-2026-badminton-day-3-report-india
