Indian Badminton Players Face Early Exits at Denmark Open 2026

Disappointing Start for Indian Badminton at Denmark Open

India's struggles continued at the Denmark Open 2026 badminton tournament, with the renowned men's doubles duo of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty experiencing a surprising first-round defeat on Wednesday. The fifth-seeded pair lost to the world number 37 team of He Jiting and Ren Xiangyu from China, with scores of 12-21, 21-15, 21-19, according to reports from Olympics.com. Earlier, PV Sindhu, a two-time Olympic medalist, and Commonwealth Games champion Lakshya Sen also faced first-round eliminations on Tuesday in this BWF Super 750 event.

Match Highlights

Satwik and Chirag began strongly, winning the first game comfortably. However, in the second game, the Chinese pair surged ahead with an 11-4 lead at the interval, ultimately pushing the match to a deciding game. The final game was tightly contested, with China leading 11-10 at one point. They managed to maintain a slight edge, resulting in Satwik and Chirag's first defeat in four encounters against this pair.

Further Setbacks for Indian Players

Ayush Shetty also faced disappointment, losing in the first round to Indonesia's Alwi Farhan with scores of 21-11, 13-21, 21-10. Alwi dominated the first game, while Ayush briefly led 11-8 in the second before conceding five consecutive points. In the deciding game, Ayush fell behind significantly and could not recover, marking his fourth loss in six matches against Alwi.

Currently, Kidambi Srikanth remains the sole Indian competitor in the men's singles category.

Updates from the Women's Competition

In the women's events, Unnati Hooda concluded her campaign in the first round, losing to China's Han Qianxi with scores of 23-21, 16-21, 21-16.

Later, Ashmita Chaliha and Devika Sihag are set to compete in women's singles, while the pairs of Treesa Jolly-Gayatri Gopichand and Rutaparna Panda-Swetaparna Panda will participate in women's doubles.