JAKARTA – Badminton player Jonatan Christie defeated Yushi Tanaka from Japan to secure a ticket to the quarter-final of the 2026 India Open.
Jonatan, who is the very big favorite of this tournament, reached the same eight by winning two matches 21-15 and 21-19 at the Indira Gandhi Sports Complex, Thursday January 15, 2026.
“It’s definitely not easy today because last time I lost. Yesterday, after watching the game, me and the team felt like Tanaka’s movement and the way he played was actually better than other Japanese players,” Jonatan said.
In this match, Jonatan was forced to get up several times to catch up. He also had to accept the fact that his finger was injured and bleeding until the end of the match.
In addition, Jonatan and the other badminton players also have to deal with quite disruptive cold weather.
“Because it’s so cold here, so you have to heat earlier, heat more. These two days I did that so that I am really ready physically when I go on the field,” Jonatan said.
In the quarter-final, Jonatan will meet French badminton player Christo Popov, who eliminated host player Kidambi Srikanth.
Jonatan has a not-so-good record against the fifth seed. In the previous two clashes at the China Open and the BWF World Tour Finals 2025, he lost all matches in three sets.
“He’s a good player, a left-handed player. Left-handed players generally have their own advantages. You have to be more ready and be prepared to be tired because it’s not easy to die, it’s not easy to turn it off either,” Jojo said.
Indonesia has three representatives who will fight in the second round of the India Open 2026. The other two who are yet to play are Putri Kusuma Wardani and Sabar Karyaman Gutama/Mohammad Reza Pahlevi Isfahani.
The English, Chinese, Japanese, Arabic, and French versions are automatically generated by the AI. So there may still be inaccuracies in translating, please always see Indonesian as our main language.
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