Indian badminton players Ashmita Chaliha and Malvika Bansod ousted in first round at Japan Open

Indian badminton players Ashmita Chaliha and Malvika Bansod were ousted from the Japan Open after losing their respective first round matches in Yokohama on Tuesday.

The Indian badminton players, along with Aakarshi Kashyap, are the only Indian badminton players in the women’s singles category at the Japan Open, a Super 750 event, after all the Indian Paris Olympics 2024 shuttlers gave the tournament a miss.

In mixed doubles, India’s Sathish Kumar Karunakaran and Aadya Variyath will be in action.

Ashmita Chaliha was drawn to face top seed Tai Tzu Ying of Chinese Taipei and went down 16-21, 12-21 in straight games. Tai Tzu Ying’s deceptive play proved too hard for Ashmita to decode. Interestingly, top Indian shuttlers including PV Sindhu have struggled against Tai Tzu Ying.

At the recently concluded Paris Olympics 2024, Tai Tzu Ying was ousted in the league phase after losing to Thailand's Ratchanok Intanon in Group E. The Chinese Taipei player beat Belgium's Lianne Tan but lost to Intanon and the Thailand player progressed from the group after beating both Tai Tzu Ying and Tan.

Meanwhile, Malvika Bansod lost her first round match to Ukraine’s Polina Buhrova 21-23, 19-21.

Aakarshi Kashyap is now the lone Indian in the women’s singles lineup and she will be playing her first round match against Korea’s Kim Ga Eun. In the mixed doubles category, Sathish Kumar Karunakaran and Aadya Variyath will play their first round matches against Indonesia’s mixed doubles pair of Rehan Naufal Kusharjanto and Lisa Ayu Kusumawati.