Lakshya, in Sindhu’s absence, will be the biggest draw for India at Malaysia Masters

Lakshya Sen will be the biggest draw in a 26-member Indian squad at the Malaysia Masters 2026 badminton tournament, which begins at the Stadium Axiata Arena in Kuala Lumpur on Tuesday.

With PV Sindhu withdrawing from the BWF Super 500 tournament and doubles aces Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty, who made the Thailand Open final last week, opting not to play, India will largely field a young squad in Kuala Lumpur.

In men’s singles, Lakshya, the Paris 2024 semifinalist, has been seeded eighth and will have HS Prannoy, the 2023 Malaysia Masters champion, for company in the main draw alongside Kiran George and Tharun Mannepalli. S Sankar Muthusamy will start from qualifiers.

MR Arjun/Hariharan Amsakarunan will be the lone Indian men’s doubles team in action with Sat-Chi missing.

PV Sindhu, the 2013 and 2016 Malaysia Masters winner, was initially in the entry list but the Indian badminton player has pulled out. Pics: Badminton Photo

Sindhu, the 2013 and 2016 Malaysia Masters winner, was initially in the entry list but the Indian badminton player has pulled out. Unnati Hooda is seeded sixth in the women’s singles main draw, which features a stacked Indian presence comprising Malvika Bansod, Anmol Kharb, Devika Sihag, Tanvi Sharma, Isharani Baruah and Rakshitha Ramraj.

Aakarshi Kashyap, returning on the BWF World Tour for the first time since the Orleans Masters back in March, starts from the qualifying rounds.

India’s top women’s doubles pair of Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand are still out with the former recovering from an injury. Rutaparna Panda/Swetaparna Panda and Ashwini Bhat K/Shikha Gautam will be the two teams representing India at this year’s Malaysia Masters.

India squad: Men’s singles: Lakshya Sen, HS Prannoy, Kiran George, Tharun Mannepalli, S Sankar Muthusamy Subramanian (Q).

Men’s doubles: MR Arjun/Hariharan Amsakarunan.

Women’s singles: Devika Sihag, Tanvi Sharma, Unnati Hooda, Malvika Bansod, Anmol Kharb, Isharani Baruah, Rakshitha Ramraj, Tanya Hemnath (Q), Aakashi Kashyap (Q).

Women’s doubles: Rutaparna Panda/Swetaparna Panda, Ashwini Bhat K/Shikha Gautam.

Mixed doubles: Ashith Surya/Amrutha Pramuthesh, Rohan Kapoor/Ruthvika Shivani Gadde, Sathwik Reddy Kanapuram/Radhika Sharma (Q).