Tokyo
India’s top badminton stars Lakshya Sen and the doubles pair Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty advanced to the Round of 16 at the Japan Open 2025 on Wednesday. They both won their first matches in straight games and showed strong form.
Lakshya Sen played confidently against China’s Wang Zheng Xing, winning 21-11, 21-18. He will now face Japan’s Kodai Naraoka in the next round. Satwik and Chirag defeated South Korea’s Kang Min-hyuk and Ki Dong-ju 21-18, 21-10 to move forward in the men’s doubles draw.
However, it was a tough day for India in women’s singles. PV Sindhu, playing her first match since June, lost to South Korea’s Sim Yu Jin 21-15, 21-14 in 38 minutes. Sindhu had a slow start, falling behind 9-3. She fought back but could not maintain her momentum. In the second game, she again started slowly and evened the score at 11-11 but failed to finish strong. This loss marks Sindhu’s early exit and continues her difficult 2025 season, where she has struggled to go beyond early rounds.
Unnati Hooda also lost in the first round to Thailand’s Pornpawee Chochuwong 21-8, 21-12. Meanwhile, Anupama Upadhyaya and Rakshitha Ramraj will meet in an all-Indian clash.
In doubles, Hariharan Amsakarunan-Ruban Kumar Rethinasabapathi and Kavipriya Selvam-Simran Singhi are still in the competition. However, Rutaparna Panda and Swetaparna Panda lost to Japan’s Kokona Ishikawa and Maiko Kawazoe 21-13, 21-7.