Lakshya Sen Chases Year-End Glory As Satwik-Chirag Face A Crucial Comeback Test

Fresh from ending his title drought in Germany, Indian shuttler Lakshya Sen will aim to strengthen his qualification chances for the season-ending BWF World Tour Finals when he competes at the USD 500,000 Kumamoto Masters Japan Super 500 tournament, beginning Tuesday.

The World No. 13, currently 10th in the BWF World Tour rankings, needs to break into the top eight to secure a place in the December 9-13 tournament in China. The 25-year-old from Almora will open his campaign against World No. 24 Chi Yu Jen of Chinese Taipei. The pair have a 1-1 head-to-head record. A strong performance in Japan and next week's Hong Kong Open could boost his qualification prospects.

Lakshya recently ended his year-long title drought by defeating Indonesia's Jonatan Christie 21-17, 21-10 in the Hylo Open final. It was his first title since winning the Australian Open in November 2025. However, recurring fitness problems had affected his performances over the previous three to four months. He skipped the Korea Open after his Germany triumph to take a break. At the previous Kumamoto Masters, he reached the semifinals before losing to Japan's Kenta Nishimoto.

India's Kidambi Srikanth will face Denmark's Rasmus Gemke, while Malvika Bansod takes on Japan's Tomoka Miyazaki. Two-time Olympic medallist PV Sindhu, who also won the Hylo Open, will miss the tournament, having secured her World Tour Finals qualification. Ayush Shetty is also absent while recovering from an injury.

World No. 6 men's doubles pair Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty will look to regain form after three consecutive early exits. Currently 12th in the World Tour rankings with 58,550 points, they will face China's Wang Chang and Xie Haonan. The Indians also failed to defend their Asian Games gold medal.

Other Indian combinations include M.R. Arjun-Hariharan Amsakarunan, Treesa Jolly-Gayatri Gopichand, Hariharan-Tanisha Crasto, Dhruv Rawat-K. Maneesha and the qualifying pair of Dhruv Kapila-Radhika Sharma. The tournament runs until November 15 at Kumamoto Prefectural Gymnasium.