Japan Open Badminton: PV Sindhu Withdraws, Satwik-Chirag And Lakshya Sen in Next Round

In the first round of the Japan Open badminton event, Indian badminton sensation PV Sindhu was eliminated in the first round match itself, continuing her current and unrelenting run of poor play. Sindhu faced Sim Yu Jin of South Korea, but she was outmatched and lost in straight games, 15-21, 14-21, ending her Super 750 tournament challenge.

For the 30-year-old, the outcome is alarming since it indicates that she appears to have run out of options for breaking out of her recent rut.

Sindhu’s Disappointing Form

The defeat in the opening round in Japan was Sindhu’s eighth consecutive badminton tournament failure to go past the second round.  To make matters worse, she had five first-round exits in 2025 alone, which shows how bad her recent form has been. 

Her performance in the Japan Open won’t do much to boost confidence either; she lost in just over 30 minutes and had a forgettable game, making several unforced mistakes and not appearing to be competitive until for a brief period in the second game.

An Uncertain Future Despite a Legendary Past

With her impressive resume, Sindhu might retire tomorrow and still be considered one of the best female shuttlers the nation has ever produced. She is only the second woman to win five medals at the BWF World Championships and has two Olympic medals: a silver in 2016 and a bronze in 2021. In addition to this, Sindhu has won numerous BWF tour titles and numerous medals at athletic competitions like the Asian and Commonwealth Games. However, severe injury layoffs appear to have affected her body, and the Hyderabadi girl faces the risk of losing ground to other participants in the sport.

On the first day, however, India had other success, as Lakshya Sen and the men’s doubles team of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty advanced to the second round with convincing straight-game wins.

Lakshya, who is presently ranked 18th in the world, defeated Wang Zheng Xing of China 21-11, 21-18, with one of his greatest performances of the season.  The 23-year-old was focused right away, quickly taking an 11-2 lead in the first game and easily winning it.  Lakshya maintained composure to end the match without losing a single game, despite Wang putting up more of a fight in the second.

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