China Open 2026: Indian Shuttlers Performance In The Pr…

The Indian shuttlers endured a tough outing as most of them were knocked out in the early stages of the ongoing Super 1000 China Open played at Changzhou, Jiangsu.

There were 3 Indian male players, including HS Prannoy, Lakshya Sen & Ayush Shetty. In the women’s singles section, PV Sindhu, Unnati Hooda and Devika Sihag took part during the prestigious event. MR Arjun & Amsakarunan were the only men’s doubles players from India. Rohan Kapoor/Shivani Gadde and Dhruv Kapila/Tanisha Crasto took part in the mixed doubles section, while there was no one from the women’s doubles section. 

Men’s Singles

Lakshya Sen started his campaign with a thrilling three-game win over Yushi Tanaka. It was a closely fought first game as both players took alternate points. Both players fought for each point right down till the end before Sen held his nerve to win with a 22-20 scoreline. 

It was closely fought in the initial stages of the 2^nd game before Tanaka upped his style of play, keeping Sen under pressure to win by 21-15. Sen showed his domination in the 3^rd game, not allowing any chances for his opponent, winning comfortably by 21-14 to move to the round of 16. 

Sen lost to Canada's Victor Lai in two straight games. The first game was a closely fought affair with both players fighting for each point before Sen showed his class, taking an 11-7 lead at the break. After the interval, Lai put on a fighting effort, making sure that he won the first game by 21-19. Sen looked out of sorts in the 2^nd game as Lai put on a dominating display, keeping the Indian under pressure and losing by 11-21. 

Ayush Shetty lost in the 2^nd round also of this prestigious event. Shetty started his journey with a three-game win over Alwi Farhan of Indonesia in three games. It was an impressive performance by Shetty in the first game, keeping Farhan under pressure and winning with a 21-17 scoreline. 

Shetty struggled in the 2^nd game, as Farhan produced a dominating performance with a 5-21 loss. It was a great performance again as Shetty showed fighting spirit to win the decider by 21-17 to move into the round of 16. Ayush suffered a heartbreaking loss to Nhat Nguyen of Ireland in three games. Both players started the first game on a positive note before Shetty upped his game, winning by 21-15. 

https://www.indiasportshub.com/articles/lakshya-sen-ayush-shetty-exit-china-open-as-india-s-campaign-ends-in-changzhou

Nhat bounced back in the 2^nd game with a dominating performance, winning by 21-13. Ayush Shetty showed his class in the 3^rd game and looked to take the game away with 20-17 but could not take the advantage, losing 5 points in a row and losing by 20-22.  HS Prannoy's average performance continued, losing to Jeong of Malaysia. It was a disappointing outing as he looked out of sorts with the 10-21, 14-21 scoreline loss. 

Women’s Singles 

PV Sindhu won her first-round encounter against Indian counterpart Unnati Hooda in three games. Sindhu looked in complete control right from the word go, putting Hooda under pressure with a 21-14 scoreline win. Hooda returned with a dominating performance during the 2^nd game, winning with 21-9. 

Sindhu showed his domination in the 3^rd game with attacking play, keeping Hooda under pressure and winning with a 21-10 scoreline to move into the round of 16. Sindhu suffered a heartbreaking loss to Chen Yu Fei of China in three games. The star Indian shuttler produced a dominating performance during the first game, keeping Chen under pressure and winning by 21-16.

It was a closely fought affair as both players fought for each point before Sindhu upped her style of play. Sindhu squandered 4 match point chances, losing by 20-22. Both players fought for each point in the initial stages of the 3rd game before Sindhu had an 11-8 lead at the break. The match ebbed and flowed as both players fought for each point, but Sindhu lost by 18-21. 

Devika Sihag went down fighting to Busnan Ongambhurghan of Thailand in three games. Sihag showed great skills and courage after being down mostly to level scores at 19-19. Devika suffered a 19-21 scoreline loss in the first game. 

The second game saw the Thailand player dominating mostly before Devika fought back strongly to win with the same 21-19 scoreline. Devika could not match the style of play in the 3^rd game as she suffered a 13-21 loss. The men’s doubles pairing of MR Arjun and Amsakarunan lost to 4^th seeded Liang and Wang of China. It was a good performance in the first game as they fought till 16-16 before the Chinese pairing won by 21-16. It was no match for Arjun and Amsakarunan in the 2^nd game as they suffered a 7-21 loss as Satwik/Chirag was not taking part due to a shoulder injury to Satwik.

Dhruv Kapila/Tanisha Crasto lost to 5^th seeded Guo and Chen in two straight games. It was a spirited performance by the Indian pairing, losing by 18-21, 18-21. Rohan Kapoor/Shivani Gadde lost to top-seeded Feng and Huang of China in two straight games. Kapoor/Gadde struggled right from the word go, losing by 9-21 and 16-21.