Ichinomiya, September 27, 2026 (Yes Punjab News)
India finished their badminton campaign at the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games 2026 with just one medal — a bronze in the men’s team event — after PV Sindhu and Unnati Hooda were eliminated in the women’s singles quarterfinals.
Sindhu went down 21-11, 18-21, 10-21 to China’s Chen Yufei despite winning the opening game, while Hooda lost 16-21, 21-14, 17-21 to Japan’s three-time world champion Akane Yamaguchi.
The defeats confirmed that India would not win a medal in any of the five individual badminton events at the Games. It was the first time since the 2014 Asian Games in Incheon that Indian shuttlers failed to secure an individual-event medal.
Earlier in the day, reigning world women’s doubles medallists Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand were beaten 18-21, 8-21 by Malaysia’s World No. 5 pair Pearly Tan and Thinaah Muralitharan in the quarterfinals.
The mixed doubles combination of Tanisha Crasto and Dhruv Kapila also bowed out in the last eight, losing 14-21, 21-18, 18-21 to world No. 1 Chinese pair Feng Yan Zhe and Huang Dongping.
India’s individual campaign was further hit by the early exits of defending men’s doubles champions Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty. After receiving a bye into the round of 32, the Indian pair suffered a surprise defeat to Thailand’s Pakkapon Teeraratsakul and Peeratchai Sukphun.
In men’s singles, Lakshya Sen lost to Singapore’s Loh Kean Yew in the round of 32 after receiving a first-round bye. Ayush Shetty defeated Makhsut Tajibullayev in the round of 32 but was beaten by Chinese Taipei’s Chou Tien Chen in the pre-quarterfinals.
The other Indian pairs also exited early. Hariharan Amsakarunan and MR Arjun lost to Indonesia’s Fajar Alfian and Muhammad Shohibul Fikri in the round of 32, while Kavipriya Selvam and Simran Singhi were beaten by Indonesia’s Febriana Dwipuji Kusuma and Meilysa Trias Puspitasari at the same stage.
India’s women’s team also exited in the quarterfinals after losing to Japan, while the men’s team reached the semifinals to secure the country’s only badminton medal.
India had won three badminton medals at the 2023 Hangzhou Asian Games but will return from Aichi-Nagoya with one bronze.
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