India's Journey at Canada Open 2026 Concludes with Early Exits

The Canada Open 2026 saw India's badminton hopes dashed as Aakarshi Kashyap and Tanya Hemanth exited in the second round. Aakarshi fought hard against Beiwen Zhang, while Tanya faced a tough match against Riko Gunji. With other players eliminated early, the Indian contingent's journey in this tournament has come to an end. The players will next compete at the Japan Open 750 starting July 14. Discover more about their performances and upcoming matches.

By Narendra Chaudhary Jul 3, 2026, 15:17 IST

India's Performance at the Canada Open

Toronto [Canada], July 3: The Indian badminton team's participation in the Canada Open 2026 came to a close as Aakarshi Kashyap and Tanya Hemanth faced defeats in the women's singles second round at the BWF Super 300 tournament held in Markham, Ontario, as reported by a sports news outlet.

Aakarshi Kashyap, currently ranked 71st in the world, displayed commendable effort against the fourth seed and world No. 33, Beiwen Zhang from the United States. The match was a nail-biter, ending with scores of 20-22, 21-17, 21-17 after an intense one hour and seven minutes.

Starting strong, Aakarshi took an early lead of 10-6 in the first game. However, Zhang made a comeback, managing to clinch the first game in a tightly contested battle. Despite Aakarshi's resilience throughout the match, she struggled to seize crucial opportunities.

In the second game, Zhang quickly established a significant lead, but Aakarshi fought back late in the game. Although she reduced the gap, she could not stop Zhang from pushing the match into a deciding game. The final game was tightly contested until it reached 17-17, after which Zhang scored four consecutive points to secure her victory.

This defeat marked Aakarshi's third consecutive loss to Zhang in their encounters.

In another second-round match, Tanya Hemanth, ranked 56th, was decisively defeated by Japan's third seed and world No. 21, Riko Gunji, who won with a score of 21-11, 21-11 in just 31 minutes. This match also marked Tanya's second consecutive defeat to Gunji, who had previously eliminated her in the first round of the US Open last week.

Aakarshi and Tanya were the last Indian players remaining in the tournament, as the rest of the Indian contingent had been eliminated earlier.

Notably, former world No. 1 Kidambi Srikanth had to retire due to injury during his match against Malaysia's Olympic medalist Lee Zii Jia. Other players, including Devika Sihag, Rakshitha Ramraj, Anmol Kharb, Shriyanshi Valishetty, Saneeth Dayanand, and Sankar Subramanian, were also knocked out in the early rounds.

India's doubles challenge ended on the first day as Achutaditya Rao Doddavarapu and Arjun Reddy Pochana were eliminated.

The Indian badminton players are set to compete next at the Japan Open 750, which is scheduled to commence on July 14.