Kidambi Srikanth Exits Early at Korea Masters 2026, Tanvi Sharma Shines

Korea Masters 2026: A Mixed Bag for Indian Badminton Players

In Asan on Wednesday, former world No. 1 Kidambi Srikanth faced an early exit from the Korea Masters 2026 badminton tournament, while promising talent Tanvi Sharma moved on to the second round.

Competing as the third seed in the BWF Super 300 event, Srikanth was defeated by Israel's Daniil Dubovenko with scores of 20-22, 21-14, 12-21 in a challenging match that lasted 50 minutes, according to reports from Olympics.com.

This loss marks Srikanth's second consecutive first-round elimination, following his runner-up finish at the US Open in June.

Other Indian players, including Rounak Chouhan, Kiran George, Mithun Manjunath, Saneeth Dayanand, and Tharun Mannepalli, also exited in the opening round, concluding India's participation in the men's singles event.

On a brighter note, the women's singles competition saw seven out of nine Indian players advance to the next round.

Tanvi Sharma, fresh off her victory at the Taipei Open last week, started strong by defeating China's Yuan An Qi with a score of 21-16, 21-15.

Fifth seed Isharani Baruah triumphed over Korea's Lee Yo Yul with scores of 21-18, 15-21, 21-7, while eighth seed Anmol Kharb made a comeback to win against Hong Kong's Lo Sin Yan Happy 16-21, 21-17, 21-12.

Ashmita Chaliha secured a straight-games victory against Japan's Ririna Hiramoto, winning 22-20, 21-18, and Rakshitha Sree Santhosh Ramraj rallied from a game down to defeat South Korea's A Yeon Yoo 22-24, 21-12, 21-13.

Mansi Singh also progressed by overcoming South Korea's Kim Joo Eun with scores of 21-14, 19-21, 21-9, while Shriyanshi Valishetty comfortably defeated Chinese Taipei's Pai Yu Po 21-15, 21-14.

Unfortunately, Tanya Hemanth and Aakarshi Kashyap were eliminated in the first round.

In women's doubles, Sonali Singh and Ritika Thaker came back from a game down to defeat Korea's Bang Ji Sun and Hyun Ji Jang with scores of 13-21, 21-15, 21-12, advancing to the next round.

The sixth-seeded mixed doubles team of Ishaan Bhatnagar and Shruti Mishra also made a comeback, winning against fellow Indians Sathwik Reddy Kanapuram and Radhika Sharma 20-22, 21-10, 21-15 to secure their spot in the next round.

However, Dhruv Rawat and Maneesha K were eliminated in mixed doubles, and Bhargav Ram Arigela and Viswa Tej Gobburu exited in men's doubles.