Lakshya Sen, India’s leading men’s singles player, recovered from a scratchy start to enter the second round of the BWF World Championships 2026 here.
After losing the opening game to much lower-ranked Austrian Collins Valentine Filimon, the World No. 14 found his rhythm to win 16-21, 21-8, 21-4. Sen struggled with his placement and was overly cautious in the opening game.
“My shots weren’t working when I was going for drives. He was able to play them because he’s quite tall. In the second set, I tried to open up the game with more lifts and rallies, and then I could play my shots freely. I was making a lot of errors in the first set. The game plan I came in with was different, so I had to change it a bit,” Sen said.
There was plenty of discussion between Sen and his coach during the changeovers, and the advice clearly worked. “It was important to play patiently. There was pressure in the first round — it was good that my game plan worked in the second and third sets,” Sen said. Earlier, Unnati Hooda (ranked 26th) beat Myanmar’s World No. 140 Thet Htar Thuzar 22-20, 21-16. After being troubled by the drift initially, Hooda took control in the second game. “It was good that I stayed patient in closing out the first game,” said Hooda, competing at her first World Championships.
The women’s doubles pair of Teresa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand also advanced, beating the American pair of Lauren Lam and Allison Lee 21-15, 21-12.
Almost all Indians in action on the second day won, barring mixed doubles pairs Rohan Kapoor-Ruthvika Shivani Gadde and Asith Surya-Amrutha Pramuthesh. Kapoor and Gadde lost to Canada’s Jonathan Bing Tsan Lai and Crystal Lai 22-20, 19-21, 17-21, while Surya and Pramuthesh went down to Turkey’s Emre Sonmez
and Yasemen Bektas 21-16, 19-21, 22-24.