TOKYO: Indian shuttlers had a disappointing outing on Thursday at the Japan Open Super 750 badminton tournament, with star performers Lakshya Sen and the top-ranked men’s doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty crashing out in the second round.
In men’s singles, World No. 18 Lakshya Sen fell to Japan’s Kodai Naraoka 19-21, 11-21 in a match that lasted nearly an hour. Sen, who had shown early promise with a convincing first-round win over China’s Wang Zheng Xing (21-11, 21-18), struggled to find rhythm against the in-form Japanese player and failed to convert key moments in both games.
Meanwhile, in a high-voltage men’s doubles clash, Satwik and Chirag were beaten 22-24, 14-21 by the Chinese fifth-seeded duo of Liang Wei Keng and Wang Chang. Despite gaining an 18-14 advantage in the first game, the Indian pair couldn’t capitalise on the momentum and lost the opener in a tight finish. The second game saw them struggle with their smashes and defensive returns, as the Chinese pair maintained pressure to close out the match in just 44 minutes.
With this result, the Chinese pair now lead the head-to-head record 7-2 against the Indians, including four consecutive wins.
The Indian contingent had started the tournament strongly on Wednesday, with both Lakshya Sen and the Satwik-Chirag duo advancing comfortably into the Round of 16.
Sen had looked sharp in his opening clash against Wang Zheng Xing, showing aggressive shot-making and solid defense. Satwik and Chirag also breezed past South Korea’s Kang Min-hyuk and Ki Dong-ju 21-18, 21-10 to enter the second round. But their promising form couldn’t be sustained against higher-ranked opponents.
In women’s singles, PV Sindhu’s tough season showed no signs of improvement. The World No. 16 lost her first-round match to South Korea’s Sim Yu Jin 15-21, 14-21 in 38 minutes. Playing her first match since the Indonesia Open in early June, Sindhu struggled to find her rhythm and lost to Yu Jin for the first time in four career meetings.
Sindhu trailed early in both games, fought back to level the score on a few occasions, but couldn’t maintain the momentum as Sim Yu Jin surged ahead each time. This marks Sindhu’s sixth early-round exit in 2025, with her best performance this year being a quarter-final finish at the India Open in January.
Unnati Hooda also exited the tournament, going down 8-21, 12-21 to Thailand’s Pornpawee Chochuwong in the opening round.
In women’s doubles, the Panda sisters — Rutaparna and Swetaparna — bowed out early after losing 13-21, 7-21 to Japan’s Kokona Ishikawa and Maiko Kawazoe. However, there’s still Indian representation left in the tournament with Anupama Upadhyaya and Rakshitha Ramraj set to face each other in an all-Indian clash.
Men’s doubles pair Hariharan Amsakarunan-Ruban Kumar Rethinasabapathi and women’s doubles duo Kavipriya Selvam-Simran Singhi are also in contention and will look to carry India’s hopes forward.
As the tournament progresses, the Indian camp will be hoping for better fortunes in the remaining matches, after a string of underwhelming performances from its top stars.
