India’s campaign in the singles events at the Japan Open 2026 suffered a major blow on Wednesday as Lakshya Sen, Ayush Shetty and Unnati Hooda were all knocked out in the opening round of the BWF Super 750 tournament in Tokyo.
Photo:ANI
India’s campaign in the singles events at the Japan Open 2026 suffered a major blow on Wednesday as Lakshya Sen, Ayush Shetty and Unnati Hooda were all knocked out in the opening round of the BWF Super 750 tournament in Tokyo.
Lakshya, the highest-ranked Indian in the men’s singles draw, went down in straight games to home favourite Koki Watanabe. The world No. 14 struggled to find his rhythm against the Japanese shuttler, who controlled the match from the start to register a 21-16, 21-14 victory in just 38 minutes.
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Watanabe established healthy leads at the mid-game interval in both games, leaving Lakshya with little room to mount a comeback. The win also improved the Japanese player’s head-to-head record against the Indian to three victories in seven meetings.
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Ayush Shetty produced a spirited fight but was unable to overcome world No. 2 Kunlavut Vitidsarn of Thailand in a hard-fought three-game contest.
Kunlavut edged the opening game 21-19 after maintaining a narrow lead for most of the set. Ayush responded brilliantly in the second game, saving four match points before clinching it 25-23 to force a decider.
The Thai star, however, regained control in the final game and completed a 21-15 win to book his place in the second round while taking a 2-1 lead in his head-to-head record against Ayush.
India’s hopes in the women’s singles also took a hit as Unnati Hooda bowed out after a three-game defeat to Chinese Taipei’s Huang Yu-Hsun.
After losing the opening game 21-16, Unnati bounced back strongly to claim the second by the same score and level the match. But Huang proved stronger in the decider, winning 21-15 to progress to the next round.
The latest defeats have left India with only two surviving entries in the singles and mixed doubles events. Two-time Olympic medallist PV Sindhu is now India’s lone representative in the singles competition, while the mixed doubles pair of Tanisha Crasto and Dhruv Kapila also remain in the draw.
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