PV Sindhu, back in the top 10 of BWF world rankings, started her Indonesia Open 2026 campaign with a victory over Thailand’s Busanan Ongbamrungphan. She clinched the match with scores of 25-23, 21-16 in 51 minutes, displaying her aggressive playing style.
In the next round, Sindhu is set to take on reigning Olympic champion and world No. 1 An Se-young, whom she has struggled against in the past. An Se-young leads Sindhu 9-0 in their head-to-head encounters, with Sindhu losing to her in the Singapore Open quarterfinals recently.
The men’s doubles pair of Hariharan Amsakarunan and MR Arjun also secured a victory, defeating Malaysia’s Tan Wee Kiong and Nur Mohd Azriyn in straight games. Sindhu, who reentered the top 10 for the first time since 2023, now faces the winner between An Se Young and Neslihan Arin in the upcoming match.
Hariharan and Arjun dominated their Malaysian opponents with a 21-18, 21-10 win in just 33 minutes. However, Lakshya Sen faced a defeat against Alwi Farhan, who had previously beaten World No. 1 Shi Yu Qi at the Singapore Open.
India’s doubles teams had a challenging day at the tournament. The women’s doubles pair of Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand suffered a loss to the Indonesian duo of Febriana Dwipuji Kusuma and Meilysa Trias Puspitasari. In mixed doubles, Dhruv Kapila and Tanisha Crasto were defeated by the sixth-seeded Chinese pair of Guo Xin Wa and Chen Fang Hui.
