Published: November 15, 2026 at 10:46 am
Lakshya Sen created a personal history by winning two BWF World Tour titles in a single season for the first time in his career. The Indian shuttler won the Kumamoto Masters Japan 2026 title on Sunday after coming back from a game down to beat home favourite Koki Watanabe 13-21, 21-18, 21-14 in the men’s singles final.
The victory, sealed in one hour and four minutes, handed eighth seed Lakshya a second successive BWF Super 500 crown after his Hylo Open triumph in Germany earlier this month. This was Lakshya’s sixth BWF World Tour title overall.
Mixed day for Indians as Lakshya storms into semifinals but Srikanth finally loses steam
Prior to the final, Lakshya held a favourable 4-3 head-to-head record over Koki Watanabe but has lost to the Japanese shuttler in both their meetings this year. Lakshya had lost to Koki at the Japan Open and the Singapore Open. Hence, it was a barrier which the Indian shuttler had to overcome.
Koki Watanabe, who is ranked 15th in the world, has been on a giant-killing spree this week. He had already knocked out third seed Chou Tien-chen, former world No. 1 Kidambi Srikanth and second seed Kunlavut Vitidsarn – the Paris 2024 Olympics silver medallist and former world champion – to reach the final.
On Sunday, Watanabe made the brighter start, racing through the opening game 21-13 without letting the Indian shuttler take the lead at any point.
Sunday’s victory over Koki Watanabe also made Lakshya Sen the first-ever Indian player to win a title at the Kumamoto Masters Japan tournament since its inception in 2023. Pics: X
Lakshya, who is ranked 13th in world badminton, steadied himself in the second game. He led 13-10 before reeling off six consecutive points to take a nine-point lead. However, Watanabe responded with seven straight points of his own to reduce the deficit to 19-17. Under pressure, Lakshya, who has been in wonderful form in the past few weeks, held strong to draw level.
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With everything riding on the decider, both players went toe-to-toe in the early exchanges. However, from the score at 5-5, Lakshya slowly began to break away and built up an 11-7 lead heading into the interval before comfortably settling the affair.
It was a third BWF Tour final of the year for Lakshya, who had finished runner-up at the All England Open in March before his back-to-back Super 500 titles.
The win also extended Lakshya Sen’s head-to-head record over Watanabe to 5-3. Sunday’s victory also made Lakshya Sen the first-ever Indian player to win a title at the Kumamoto Masters Japan tournament since its inception in 2023.
Lakshya had also made it to three summit clashes in the 2022 season.
Lakshya downs Farhan in semis
Earlier in the semifinals, the 25-year-old Lakshya, who is seeded eighth, needed 70 minutes to see off world No. 10 and sixth seed Farhan, who won a men’s singles bronze at the Asian Games 2026 a couple of months back.
Lakshya made a good start and opened up a 9-3 lead but Farhan clawed back to make it 11-7 at the break. The Indian, however, stepped on the gas after the restart, winning 10 of the next 15 points to pocket the opener.
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The momentum flipped after the change of ends. Farhan reeled off seven points in a row to lead 11-4. Lakshya tried to bounce back but ended up conceding his first game of the ongoing BWF Super 500 tournament, having reached the last four on the back of three straight-game wins.
There was no let-up in the decider, however, as Lakshya dominated from start to end to seal his place in the final. It was Lakshya’s first win over Farhan in three meetings. The Indonesian had earlier knocked Lakshya out in the semifinals of last year’s Macau Open and also in the opening round of this year’s Indonesia Open.
Lakshya had earlier defeated Chinese Taipei’s Chi Yu-jen, the People’s Republic of China’s Dong Tian-yao and Japan’s Yushi Tanaka, all in straight games to reach the top four.
