Malaysia Open 2026: Sindhu, Satwik-Chirag enter quarterfinals; Lakshya, Ayush exit

India’s star shuttler PV Sindhu produced an impressive performance on Thursday, defeating higher-ranked Japanese opponent Tomoka Miyazaki to book her spot in the women’s singles quarterfinals of the Malaysia Open Super 1000 badminton tournament in Kuala Lumpur.

Former world champion Sindhu, returning after a long injury lay-off, defeated the eighth-seeded Miyazaki 21-8, 21-13 in 33 minutes.

In a men’s doubles Round of 16 clash, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty beat local duo of Junaidi Arif and Roy King Yap 21-18, 21-11 in a 39-minute match to enter the quarterfinals.

However, it was curtains for ace Indian men’s player Lakshya Sen and young Ayush Shetty who both lost at the pre-quarterfinal stage.

Sen, who had broken the three-year jinx of first-round exits in the tournament when he defeated Singapore’s Jia Heng Jason Teh on Wednesday, succumbed in the pre-quarterfinals against Hong Kong-China’s Lee Cheuk Yiu 20-22, 15-21 in 53 minutes.

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Ayush went down fighting against top seed Shi Yu Qi of China 18-21, 21-18, 12-12 in a 70-minute slugfest.

It was Sindhu, 30, who continued to impress on comeback by notching her second win against Miyazaki to take her career head-to-head to 2-1 against the Japanese teenager.

Sindhu raced to a 5–1 lead and then reeled off 13 consecutive points to surge to a commanding 18-4 advantage, before comfortably closing out the opening game in no time.

The second game was also largely one-sided, though the 19-year-old Miyazaki briefly stayed in touch trailing by just a point at 8-9. However, Sindhu drew on her vast experience to pull away with a six-point lead at 17–11 and wrapped up the match with ease.

Sindhu will take on the winner of the pre-quarterfinal game between China’s Gao Fang Jie and third-seeded Japanese Akane Yamaguchi.

Published on Jan 08, 2026