Aakarshi puts up valiant fight against Zhang before losing, Tanya goes down tamely

Aakarshi Kashyap and Tanya Hemanth fell by the wayside as India’s campaign at the Canada Open 2026 badminton tournament ended in the second round on Thursday.

Competing at the Markham Pan Am Centre in Ontario, Aakarshi Kashyap, 71st in the badminton rankings, put up a valiant effort against USA’s Beiwen Zhang, world No. 33 and fourth seed at the BWF Super 300 tournament, but lost 20-22, 21-17, 21-17.

Aakarshi looked in good touch

The 24-year-old Indian, who had beaten Anna Tatranova of France in her opening round match on Wednesday, looked in good touch in the opening game and raced to a 10-6 lead.

However, Zhang fought back to level the scores at 10-10. The second half of the first game saw the momentum and lead swing between the two players constantly before Aakarshi saved a game point to take the lead.

Aakarshi Kashyap fought tooth-and-nail against Zhang but was unable to overcome her opponent. Pic: X

Zhang responded in the second game and was dominating with a 17-8 lead before Aakarshi fought back, gradually chipping away at the American’s advantage. However, it was too late to turn the tables as Zhang drew level in the match.

The decider also saw a neck-to-neck contest between the two players and the score stood level at 17-all before Zhang picked up four points on the bounce to wrap up the match in an hour and seven minutes.

Mixed reactions: New BWF scoring system will make game faster and aggressive

The Indian is now winless against Zhang in three head-to-head meetings.

Tanya loses to Riko

World No. 56 Tanya Hemanth, meanwhile, went down more tamely to Japan’s Riko Gunji, the world No. 21 and third seed, losing 21-11, 21-11 in just 31 minutes.

Interestingly, it was Riko Gunji who had knocked Tanya out in the opening round of the US Open last week. Commonwealth Games medallist Aakarshi Kashyap and Tanya Hemanth were the last two Indian shuttlers left standing in the tournament.

Former world No. 1 Kidambi Srikanth had to retire hurt from his match against Olympic medallist Lee Zii Jia of Malaysia.

Injured Srikanth exits Canada Open; Tanya, Aakarshi only bright spots on a bad day

Devika Sihag, Rakshitha Ramraj, Anmol Kharb and Shriyanshi Valishetty, in women’s singles, and Saneeth Dayanand, Sankar Subramanian, in men’s singles, also suffered defeats.

Doubles pair Achutaditya Rao Doddavarapu and Arjun Reddy Pochana were also ousted on the opening day of the BWF Super 300 badminton event.

The Indian players will be next seen in action at the Japan Open 750 from July 14.