Srikanth on a roll in Japan, Lakshya breezes through; Treesa-Gayatri knocked out

Former world No. 1 Kidambi Srikanth is having the time of his life as the Andhra Pradesh shuttler stunned fifth seed Kodai Naraoka of Japan to reach the men’s singles quarterfinals at the Kumamoto Masters Japan 2026 badminton tournament on Thursday.

Lakshya Sen brooked no challenge as he breezed into the quarterfinals but India’s women’s doubles pair of Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand suffered an exit.

Srikanth battled past Naraoka 21-15, 11-21, 21-18 in an hour in the round of 16 of the BWF Super 500 tournament at the Kumamoto Prefectural Gymnasium. It was Srikanth’s first victory over Naraoka in five meetings.

Srikanth rolls back the years in stirring fight, Lakshya marches on at Kumamoto Masters

Naraoka, who is currently eighth in the badminton world rankings, is a two-time BWF World Championships silver medallist, having finished runner-up in 2023 and again in New Delhi earlier this year.

Naraoka made the better start on Thursday, opening up an 8-4 lead in the first game before Srikanth fought back to level the scores at 9-all. The Japanese badminton player edged ahead again at 14-12, but Srikanth turned the game around by winning the next seven points on the trot to establish a 19-14 advantage before closing out the opener.

Naraoka responded emphatically in the second game and never allowed Srikanth to take the lead as he forced a decider.

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The two players were locked at 7-all in the third game before Srikanth took control, going into the interval with an 11-7 advantage. Naraoka mounted a late fightback and reduced the deficit to two points at 18-16, but the 2021 World Championships silver medallist held his nerve in the closing exchanges to seal the contest.

Thursday’s victory was not Srikanth’s only big scalp of the season. He beat Paris 2024 bronze medallist Lee Zii Jia of Malaysia en route to finishing runner-up at the US Open in June and stunned then world No. 9 Victor Lai of Canada to reach the China Masters Super 750 quarterfinals in September.

However, his 2026 campaign has also been marked by inconsistency, with nine first-round exits on the BWF World Tour. Srikanth will face Japan’s Koki Watanabe in the quarterfinals.

Lakshya packs off Yao

Lakshya Sen, meanwhile, needed just 35 minutes to dispatch the People’s Republic of China’s Dong Tian Yao 21-8, 21-14. The eighth-seeded Indian was firmly in control throughout the one-sided contest and will take on Japan’s Yushi Tanaka for a place in the semifinals.

Lakshya, who is 10th in the Race to Finals standings before the start of Kumamoto Masters Japan, is looking to break into the top eight and qualify for the season-ending BWF World Tour Finals.

Srikanth and Lakshya are placed in opposite halves of the men’s singles draw and can only meet in the final.

Doubles challenge ends

India’s doubles challenge, however, came to an end on Thursday. World Championships bronze medallists Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand lost 21-14, 21-14 to third seeds Rin Iwanaga and Kie Nakanishi of Japan in the women’s doubles round of 16.

Treesa-Gayatri had beaten Iwanaga and Nakanishi 21-16, 21-12 in the round of 16 at the BWF World Championships in New Delhi earlier this year on way to winning the bronze medal. Thursday’s result gave the Japanese pair a 2-1 lead in the head-to-head record.

In men’s doubles, Hariharan Amsakarunan and MR Arjun also bowed out after losing 21-14, 21-14 to Japan’s Takuro Hoki and Yugo Kobayashi in 34 minutes.