New Delhi, Jan 13 (IANS) Former champion Lakshya Sen and top women’s doubles duo, Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand, made a commanding start to their India Open 2026 campaign while men’s fourth seed Chou Tien Chen of Chinese Taipei, seventh seed Kodai Naroaka of Japan and French sixth seed Alex Lanier were knocked out on the opening day of the BWF World Tour Super 750 event, organised by the Badminton Association of India, in New Delhi on Tuesday.
Sen needed just 36 minutes to seal a 21-12, 21-15 win over his academy-mate Shetty, while Treesa and Gayatri, the Syed Modi International winners, defeated Thailand’s Ornnicha Jongsathapornparn and Sukitta Suwachai 21-15, 21-11 at the Indira Gandhi multi-purpose indoor stadium.
Earlier, Canada’s Brian Yang packed off Chou 21-19, 21-11, Chi Yu Jen of Chinese Taipei upset Lanier 21-17, 21-19, and Kodai Naraoka retired against compatriot Kenta Nishimoto while trailing 6-21, 5-7.
With the India Open 2026 moving to a much bigger stadium this year, the focus on the opening day was on the all-Indian clash between Sen and Shetty. The 24-year-old Indian Oil Corporation employee stepped on the accelerator from the very start as he opened up a 7-1 lead in the first game, dominating the net exchanges, and did not allow his young opponent to settle down.
It was only at the end of the first game that Shetty began to find his rhythm and won six straight points to close the gap from 6-17 to 12-17, but that was too little too late.
Shetty started well in the second game as he opened up a 5-1 lead with Sen, this time struggling to control his strokes due to the side-way drift. But then the 2021 World Championships bronze medallist used his stick smashes to make the tall Shetty bend and followed it up with a tap to kick-start his comeback in the game, before wrapping the match without much ado.
“The first match in any tournament is very important, and the conditions were a bit tricky. Since this is a big hall, we were thinking that the conditions would be slow, but the shuttle was travelling fast. Also, it’s quite cold, and I was happy that I was warmed up well for the start of the match,” said Sen, who will now face Nishimoto in the second round.
Before Sen took the court, Treesa and Gayatri provided a winning start to the hosts’ campaign with a commanding performance. The world No. 21 Indian combination was hardly under any pressure throughout the 42-minute clash against the Thai pairing.
The Indian combination will now face seventh seeds Li Yi Jing and Luo Xu Min of China, who defeated Francesca Corbett and Jennnie Gai of the USA 21-12, 21-8.
Also advancing to the second round were the men’s doubles pairing of Hariharan Amsakarunan and MR Arjun, as they defeated the Malaysian combination of Ong Yew Sin and Teo Ee Yi 21-15, 21-18 in the opening round. They will next face fourth seeds Liang Wei Keng and Wang Chang of China.
Meanwhile, Shruti Mishra and Priya Konjengbam, finalists in women’s doubles in National Championships, saved a total of five match-points but could not convert the one match point they earned to go down 21-11, 20-22, 24-22 in an hour and eight minutes against Lui Lok Lok and Tsang Hiu Yan of Hong Kong China.
Facing the World No. 31 Hong Kong combination, Shruti and Priya fought back from a game down to save a match point in the second game and forced a decider. In the third and final game, the Indian combination was for an all-attack strategy to save four match points and even earned one themselves.
But a lucky net chord helped the Hong Kong pairing to save that match point, and then two drive errors meant that the Indians were ousted in the opening round itself.
Former World Champion PV Sindhu, men’s singles stars Kidambi Srikanth and HS Prannoy will kick off their campaign on Wednesday. Third seeds in men’s doubles, Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy, received a walkover in the opening round after the USA’s Chen Zhi Yi and Presley Smith withdrew.
Important results:
Men’s singles: Lakshya Sen bt Ayush Shetty 21-12, 21-15; Chi Yu-Jen (Tpe) bt 6-Alex Lanier (Fra) 21-17, 21-19; Brian Yang (Can) bt 4-Chou Tien Chen (Tpe) 21-19, 21-11; Victor Lai (Can) bt Toma Junior Popov (Fra) 21-12, 16-21, 21-8
Women’s singles: 7-Ratchanok Intanon (Tha) bt Riko Gunji (Jpn) 21-19, 21-15; 6-Putri Kusuma Wardani (Ina) bt Michelle Li (Can) 21-12, 20-22, 21-15
Men’s doubles: Hariharan Amsakarunan/MR Arjun bt Ong Yew Sin/Teo Ee Yi (Mas) 21-15, 21-18; Christo Popov/Toma Junior Popov (Fra) bt Choong Hon Jian/Haikal Muhammad (Mal) 21-11, 21-19
Women’s doubles: Treesa Jolly/Gayatri Gopichand bt Ornnicha Jongsathapornparn/Sukitta Suwachai (Tha) 21-15, 21-11; Lui Lok Lok/Tsang Hiu Yan (Hkg) bt Shruti Mishra/Priya Konjengbam 21-11, 20-22, 24-22
Mixed doubles: Hiroki Midorikawa/Nami Matsuyama (Jpn) bt Dhruv Rawat/K Maneesha 21-9, 21-10.
–IANS
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