India’s campaign ends in disappointment at Japan Open 2025

India’s challenge in the Japan Open, a BWF Super 750 badminton tournament, ended with the eviction of Lakshya Sen and the World No.15-ranked men’s doubles duo of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty in the Round of 16, in Shibuya, Japan on Thursday.

World No. 18 Lakshya’s inconsistent run resulted in a 19-21, 11-21 loss to Japan’s Kodai Naraoka in the men’s singles that lasted close to an hour. The 23-year-old, who had looked promising in the opener with a commanding 21-11, 21-18 win over China’s Wang Zheng Xing, failed to carry the momentum forward.

Advertisement

In the men’s doubles, Satwik and Chirag were handed a 22-24, 14-21 defeat by the fifth-seeded Chinese combine of Liang Wei Keng and Wang Chang in a battle between former world No. 1 pairs.

With this win, Paris Olympics silver medallists Wei Keng and Wang Chang extended their head-to-head lead over the Indians to 7-2.

After a slow start, the Indian pair did well to take an 18-14 lead but couldn’t hold on to the momentum as their Chinese counterparts sealed a thrilling first game.

The world number five Chinese duo continued in the same vein in the second game as Satwik and Chirag struggled with their smashes and defence to concede their fourth defeat on the trot to Wei Ken and Chang.

Anupama Upadhyaya, who remained India’s sole remaining hope, also crashed out later in the day after going down 21-13, 11-21, 12-21 to China’s Wang Zhi Yi in the women’s singles Round of 16 contest.

On Thursday, India’s campaign suffered a massive setback after several prominent players, including two-time Olympic medallist PV Sindhu and world championship medallist HS Prannoy exited the tournament in the first round.

Sindhu went down 21-15, 21-14 to the world No. 14 South Korean shuttler in 38 minutes in the opening round. It was her first defeat to Sim Yu Jin in four meetings. The loss marked yet another early exit for Sindhu in what has been a challenging 2025 BWF World Tour season. Her best finish this year remains a quarter-final appearance at the India Open in January, which was followed by four first-round exits and two round of 16 finishes.

Young Unnati Hooda also exited in the opening round, falling to Thailand’s Pornpawee Chochuwong 21-8, 21-12. In men’s doubles, Hariharan Amsakarunan and Ruban Kumar Rethinasabapathi lost 21-15, 21-9 to Korea’s Kim Won Ho and Seo Seung Jae.

India’s women’s doubles pairs endured similar fates. Kavipriya Selvam and Simran Singhi were beaten 21-6, 21-15 by Hong Kong’s Lui Lok Lok and Tsang Hiu Yan, while Rutaparna Panda and Swetaparna Panda lost 21-13, 21-7 to the Japanese team of Kokona Ishikawa and Maiko Kawazoe.