Treesa-Gayatri Advance At Japan Open As Sindhu Qualifies For World Tour Finals

India's campaign at the Kumamoto Masters Japan 2026 Super 500 badminton tournament began on a mixed note on Tuesday, with women's doubles pair Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand advancing to the pre-quarterfinals, while mixed doubles combination Dhruv Kapila and Radhika Sharma suffered an early exit.

Treesa and Gayatri defeated Japan's Hinata Suzuki and Nao Yamakita 21-17, 21-14 in 42 minutes in their opening-round match at the Kumamoto Prefectural Gymnasium. The Indian pair, who won a bronze medal at the BWF World Championships in New Delhi earlier this year, will next face third seeds and world No. 5 Japanese combination Rin Iwanaga and Kie Nakanishi in the round of 16.

The two pairs have won one match each in their previous encounters, with the Indian duo securing their latest victory at the World Championships.

In men's doubles, Hariharan Amsakarunan and MR Arjun also progressed to the pre-quarterfinals after their Malaysian opponents, third seeds Aaron Chia and Soh Wooi Yik, retired hurt. The Indians were leading 11-6 in the opening game when the Malaysian pair withdrew just six minutes into the match.

However, Dhruv Kapila and Radhika Sharma were eliminated from the mixed doubles qualifying round after losing 16-21, 15-21 to the second-seeded American pair of Chen Zhi Yi and Francesca Corbett.

Meanwhile, Lakshya Sen will begin his campaign on Wednesday. Following his Hylo Open title triumph earlier this month, he climbed eight places to 10th in the race for qualification to the BWF World Tour Finals. The season-ending tournament will be held in China from December 9 to 13, featuring the top eight players and pairs across all disciplines. Sen reached the semifinals at last year's edition.

India's men's doubles stars Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty, along with women's singles player Malvika Bansod, withdrew from the tournament after initially being listed to compete.

Another major highlight for India was PV Sindhu's qualification for the BWF World Tour Finals. The two-time Olympic medallist climbed to world No. 6 after winning the Hylo Open, where she defeated Denmark's Line Kjaersfeldt 21-12, 21-14 in the final. She also won the Japan Open earlier this season, finished runner-up at the French Open and reached the semifinals of the Malaysia and Australian Opens. Sindhu previously won the World Tour Finals title in 2018.