Giant-killer Ashmita Chaliha fell in the quarterfinals, but two-time Olympic medallist PV Sindhu kept India’s campaign alive at the French Open 2026 badminton tournament by storming into the women’s singles semifinals with a straight-game win on Friday.
Sindhu, who is ranked 11th in the women’s badminton, defeated world No. 17 Chiu Pin-chian of Chinese Taipei 21-13, 21-14 at the Arena Grand Paris.
Ashmita knocks out World No.2 Yamaguchi, marches into French Open quarterfinals
This was Sindhu’s second win against Chiu Pin-chian, having also beaten her at the Asian Games 2026 last month. The Indian player has now made it to four semifinals on the BWF World Tour this year. She had earlier reached the semis of the Malaysia Open in January and the Australian Badminton Open in June, before clinching the Japan Open title in July.
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Sindhu was in dominant form and made light work of her opponent. The Indian shuttler raced to an 11-5 lead at the interval before wrapping up the opening game comfortably.
The second game followed a similar pattern as Sindhu opened up a 7-0 advantage and closed out the contest in just 39 minutes. Sindhu will face either world championships bronze medallist Putri Kusuma Wardani of Indonesia or Hina Akechi of Japan in the semifinal on Saturday.
Sindhu lone Indian left in the draw
Sindhu is now the only Indian challenge left at the BWF Super 750 tournament after Ashmita Chaliha lost her quarterfinal encounter against Japan’s Nozomi Okuhara, an Olympic medallist, earlier in the day.
Ashmita, who had stunned three-time world champion Akane Yamaguchi of Japan to pull off the biggest win of her career in the pre-quarterfinals, went down fighting 21-10, 17-21, 21-16 against Nozomi Okuhara.
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India’s men’s singles campaign ended on Thursday after Ayush Shetty retired hurt. Lakshya Sen had earlier withdrawn ahead of his opening-round match.
Satwiksairaj Rankireddy-Chirag Shetty and Treesa Jolly-Gayatri Gopichand had also suffered opening-round exits in the men’s and women’s doubles, respectively.
