Published: June 2, 2026 at 7:50 pm
It was a mixed day for Indian shuttlers at the Indonesia Open 2026 as star player Lakshya Sen crashed out of men’s singles badminton event after losing his first-round match in Jakarta on Tuesday, while PV Sindhu progressed after winning a tricky opener.
Ranked 10th and the reigning Commonwealth Games champion Lakshya Sen struggled to match the pace of his younger opponent Alwi Farhan of Indonesia, losing 21-19, 21-16 in 48 minutes. The 24-year-old Indian player recovered from a 7-3 deficit in the opening game to edge ahead 19-18 before the 21-year-old Indonesian reeled off three straight points to take the opener.
The second game also remained closely contested at 17-16 until Farhan closed out the match with four consecutive points. This was Lakshya Sen’s second defeat against Farhan in as many meetings. The two shuttlers also met in the semifinals of the Macau Open last year, which Sen lost in straight games.
Sindhu returns to top 10
Meanwhile, Sindhu, who returned to the top 10 for the first time since October 2023 this week, beat Thailand’s world No. 19 Busanan Ongbamrungphan 25-23, 21-16 in the first round of the BWF Super 1000 tournament.
With the win, Sindhu extended her dominant head-to-head record over Busanan to 21-1 but was pushed hard throughout the opening game before pulling away in the second to seal victory in 51 minutes.
The Indian ace arrived in Jakarta on the back of an encouraging quarterfinal run at the Singapore Open last week, where she beat world No. 6 Putri Kusuma Wardani of Indonesia in the first round.
PV Sindhu, who returned to the top 10 for the first time since October 2023 this week, beat Thailand’s world No. 19 Busanan Ongbamrungphan 25-23, 21-16 in the first round of the BWF Super 1000 tournament. Pics: Badminton Photo
However, her campaign in Singapore ended after she lost to Paris 2024 Olympics champion An Se-young, whom she could face again in the second round provided the South Korean shuttler beats Turkiye’s unseeded Neslihan Arin in her opener.
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Meanwhile, former world No. 1 Kidambi Srikanth suffered an opening-round exit after losing 21-19, 21-15 to higher-ranked Yushi Tanaka of Japan in the men’s singles competition. The defeat continued a difficult run for the world No. 37 Indian badminton player, who is yet to progress beyond the second round in any BWF World Tour tournament this season.
In the men’s doubles, Indian pair of Hariharan Amsakarunan and MR Arjun upset Malaysia’s Tan Wee Kiong, a Rio 2016 men’s doubles silver medallist, and Nur Mohd Azriyn Ayub in the opening round. The Indian duo, ranked six places below the world No. 24 Malaysian duo, won the contest 21-18, 21-10 to progress to the pre-quarterfinals.
Earlier in the day, Malvika Bansod bowed out of the women’s singles competition after a 21-12, 21-10 defeat to Thailand’s seventh seed Pornpawee Chochuwong.
Treesa-Gayatri lose
In women’s doubles, Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand lost to Indonesia’s Febriana Dwipuji Kusuma and Meilysa Trias Puspitasari in the opening round. The Indonesia Open marked the Indian pair’s first BWF World Tour appearance since March, with Treesa returning from injury.
Later in the day, mixed doubles pair of Dhruv Kapila and Tanisha Crasto, which reached semifinals in Singapore last week, was beaten by Malaysia’s reigning world champions Chen Tang Jie and Toh Ee Wei 21-11, 21-10.
