Indian shuttlers had a torrid time at the German Open 2026 as the likes of Malvika Bansod, Kiran George and Tanvi Sharma crashed out of singles competitions.
World No. 40 Tanvi Sharma, a junior world championships silver medallist, went down fighting against Wong Ling Ching of Malaysia by a 21-19, 17-21, 21-16 scoreline in the first round of the women’s singles events.
Malvika Bansod, 52nd in the women’s singles badminton rankings, also stretched her first-round opponent, world No. 21 Beiwen Zhang of the USA, to three games before finally succumbing 19-21, 21-9, 21-19.
Rakshitha Sree Santhosh Ramraj went toe-to-toe against Denmark’s Line Christophersen before losing 18-21, 23-21, 16-21 in an hour-long battle.
Tasnim Mir bowed out of the BWF Super 300 tournament after going down 21-9, 21-14 against the People’s Republic of China’s top seed Wang Zhi Yi.
Isharani Baruah lost 21-15, 21-18 to world No. 8 Pornpawee Chochuwong of Thailand. Aakarshi Kashyap’s run, meanwhile, ended following a 21-13, 21-17 loss to Huang Yu-Hsun of Chinese Taipei.
In the men’s singles, Indian shuttler Kiran George went down 21-10, 22-20 against French top seed Christo Popov, while Tharun Mannepalli lost 21-18, 21-18 to Wang Tzu Wei of Chinese Taipei.
Amidst the series of losses, Kidambi Srikanth emerged as the only bright point on the day for the Indian contingent. The former world No. 1 badminton player beat Poland’s Mikolaj Szymanowski 21-12, 21-11 and will face Chinese Taipei’s Lin Chun-Yi, the fourth seed, in the next round.
The series of losses also leaves Kidambi Srikanth as the lone Indian challenge still alive at the German Open.
Ashwini Bhat and Sikha Gautam had bowed out in the opening round of women’s singles on Wednesday, while Nishu Malik and Muskan Sangwan failed to make it past the qualifiers.
