(Reporter Kwon Dong-hwan, Xports News) Will Japanese badminton succeed in regaining its honor at the second international competition in 2026?
The 2026 Badminton World Federation (BWF) World Tour India Open (Super 750) will be held at the Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium in New Delhi, India from the 13th to the 18th (Korean time).
A total of 22 teams from Japan (11 singles players, 11 doubles groups) will participate in the tournament, with world-class badminton rankers such as women’s singles number one Ahn Se-young and men’s doubles number one pair Seo Seung-jae and Kim Won-ho listed as participants.
According to the India Open bracket, seven Japanese players, including Ahn Se-young’s rival Akane Yamaguchi (world No. 3) and ‘Badminton Fairy’ Tomoka Miyazaki (world No. 8), will participate in the women’s singles event. In the men’s singles, 4 players will participate in the competition.
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In men’s doubles, three groups were included in the list of participants. Four groups each entered the bracket for women’s doubles and mixed doubles.
In particular, in the women’s singles, Nozomi Okuhara (#30 in the world) faced Ahn Se-young, the top seed of the tournament, from the first round (round of 32). Yamaguchi, who received the third seed, must advance to the semifinals to face Ahn Se-young.
With the tournament approaching, attention is focused on whether Japanese players will be able to make up for their poor performance in the recently concluded Malaysia Open (Super 1000).
Japan also fielded a total of 22 teams at the Malaysia Open, the first BWF World Tour in 2026, but lost face by failing to advance to the finals in all five events.
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Yamaguchi, one of the candidates to win the women’s singles, withdrew after dropping one game in the quarterfinals of the tournament, and Miyazaki was eliminated after losing in the round of 16. The remaining four women’s singles players were also eliminated early and had to pack their bags early.
In the women’s doubles, the pair of Yuki Fukushima and Mayu Matsumoto advanced to the semifinals, but were defeated by Korea’s Baek Hana and Lee Sohee with a game score of 0-2 and failed to advance to the finals. Both other groups were defeated by the Korean players and bowed their heads. In women’s doubles, Japanese badminton was the strongest event, so it was a huge shock.
The three men’s singles players did not even advance to the semifinals, and the four men’s doubles groups and three mixed doubles groups also failed to advance to the finals.
On the other hand, in Korea, Ahn Se-young was crowned the women’s singles champion and achieved her third consecutive title in the tournament, and the pair of Seo Seung-jae and Kim Won-ho won the men’s doubles title again following last year. In the women’s doubles, Baek Ha-na and Lee So-hee advanced to the finals, but lost to China’s Ryu Seong-su and Tanning, taking second place.
Photo = Yonhap News
Reporter Kwon Dong-hwan kkddhh95@xportsnews.com
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