The Indian men's and women's badminton teams face challenging draws in the upcoming Thomas and Uber Cups, with both teams grouped alongside defending champions China.
India's men's and women's badminton teams face a challenging draw alongside defending champions China in the 2026 Thomas and Uber Cup, to be held in Horsens, Denmark.
P V Sindhu bowed out, while H S Prannoy and Lakshya Sen scored hard-fought wins to advance in the Hong Kong Open Super 500 tournament.
Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand (women's doubles) and B Sumeeth Reddy and N Sikki Reddy (mixed doubles) suffered three-game defeats in their opening contests.
Lakshya Sen, Malvika Bansod make first-round exits at Denmark Open
Kiran George lost to World champion Kunlavut Vitidsarn of Thailand in the quarter-finals of the Indonesia Masters.
The tie was already inconsequential for HS Prannoy as he had lost his earlier two Group A matches.
Lakshya Sen and Kiran George advanced to the second round but HS Prannoy and Kidambi Srikanth made early exits after suffering narrow losses in their respective opening matches at the Indonesia Masters Super 500 badminton tournament in Jakarta on Wednesday.
Kidambi outperforms Sen, Sameer scores upset win
World champion PV Sindhu made an early exit from the China Open but B Sai Praneeth kept the Indian flag fluttering with a hard-fought straight-game win to reach the men's singles quarter-finals.
H S Prannoy has revealed that he has been battling a chronic gastrointestinal disorder for the past four months
Kidambi Srikanth progressed to the men's singles second round with a stunning win over Chinese Taipei's Chou Tien Chen.
The top seeded Indian duo, who reached the semi-finals of the season-opening Malaysia Open super 1000, was scheduled to face Chinese Taipei's Su Ching Heng and Ye Hong Wei in the opening round.
Star Indian shuttlers PV Sindhu and Kidambi Srikanth will look to arrest their slump in form when they begin their campaign at the Australia Open badminton tournament in Sydney on Tuesday.
Saina Nehwal, who won the tournament last year before going through a lean patch, lost 19-21, 13-21, 5-21 to Sayaka Takahashi in 50 minutes.
Prannoy will next face world number one and Olympic champion Viktor Axelsen on Friday.
'All the matches are going to be tough but I have to shrug it off and get ready for tomorrow's match.'
None of the other three quarters boast of such a strong star cast but there would be a few mouth-watering opening round clashes to look forward to.
An Indian team which is a nice little blend of youth and experience, will have to punch above its weight in what's going to be an arduous challenge in the Sudirman Cup mixed team championships here on Sunday.
Sindhu, a 2019 World Champion, lost 14-21, 21-15, 14-21 to Zhang in a match that lasted 55 minutes.
The World No 11 Srikanth will take on China's Lu Guang Zu in the next round.
Reigning World champion and title favourite P V Sindhu sailed into the pre-quarter-finals at the China Open Super 1000 tournament with a convincing straight-games victory over former Olympic gold medallist Li Xuerui, in Changzhou, on Wednesday.
Former World No 1 Saina, the London Olympics bronze medallist, lost 14-21, 21-17, 17-21 to World No 2 Yamaguchi in a 50-minute women's singles clash.
World Championships bronze medallist Sen had earlier advanced to the men's singles semi-finals after his opponent Lu Guang Zu of China gave a walkover.
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