Indian ace shuttler PV Sindhu made a terrific start to her campaign in the Malaysia Open 2026. In the opening round of the tournament held on Wednesday, January 7, the two-time Olympic medalist defeated Chinese Taipei’s Sung Shuo-yun by sets of 21-13, 22-20 in a 51-minute game. Sindhu continued her unbeaten run against Shuo-yun, who got defeated for the third consecutive time in straight games by the Indian shuttler.
Sindhu opened the game with a disappointing start after trailing by 0-5 from Shuo-yun. But quickly regaining her momentum, she went on to add 10 straight points and won the first set. In the second set, she got a four-point lead, but Shuo-yun added some extra points and good shots to her name. In the final minutes, Sindhu added two more points post-deuce and went on to win the match. With the win, Sindhu will next face Tomoka Miyazaki in the pre-quarterfinals match.
Meanwhile, the Indian women’s doubles pair of Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand faced a three-set exit in the round of 32 match. The Indian pair lost to the Indonesian pair by 9-21, 23-21, 19-21.
On the other hand, the men’s doubles Indian duo of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty also claimed a straight-game victory over the Chinese Taipei pairing of Lee Jhe-huei and Yang Po-hsuan by 21-13, 21-15. The Indian men’s doubles pair of Satwik-Chirag got their sixth consecutive win against Lee-Yan. Moving ahead with their unbeaten record, the Indian duo have booked their spot in the second round match against the Malaysian pair of Arif and Yap.
Besides Tressa and Gayatri, the Indian mixed doubles pair of Dhruv Kapila and Tanisha Crasto also faced defeat in Kuala Lumpur. They suffered a first-round exit to the American pair of Presley Smith and Jennie Gai by 21-15, 18-21, 21-15 in a 56-minute match of the round of 32. The Indian duo faced their sixth first-round exit in the past tournaments played.
Indian ace men’s shuttler Lakshya Sen had a great kick start to his Malaysia Open Super1000 match. On Tuesday, January 6, the 24-year-old defeated Singapore’s Jason Teh Jia Heng of Singapore by 21-16, 15-21, 21-14. In the Head-to-Head record with Jason, Lakshya is leading the record with an unbeaten 4-0. Meanwhile, Ayush Shetty defeated Paris Olympic medalist Lee Zii Jia in the first round match by 12-21, 17-21.
