Asian Games 2026: India have gone down to Japan in the Women’s Badminton Quarter-finals of Asian Games 2026 as three out of the four visiting contingent suffered defeats.
Only the duo of Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand won their respective match out of four, with PV Sindhu, Unnati Hooda and Tanvi Sharma copped losses.
Asian Games 2026: PV Sindhu and Unnati Hooda lose hard-fought battles
Team India had some flashes of brilliance, such as two-time Olympic medalist PV Sindhu’s first-game win over rival Akane Yamaguchi and a brilliant fightback from the pairing of Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand in the fourth match, but it was a largely a dissappointing show from the women’s team. The rivals PV Sindhu and Akane Yamaguchi started the quarterfinal against Japan in the women’s team competition. Starting from game one, Sindhu levelled at 5-5 after his opponent took an early lead however, Yamaguchi had an 11-9 lead heading into the break. After Sindhu levelled the score at 12-12, the Indian managed to narrow the gap to 17-18 and then once again levelled the score at 18-18.
After some more thrilling action which saw scores being level, Sindhu finally managed a hard-fought 23-21 win in the first game. The second game saw the players going back and forth again, and by the break, Yamaguchi had the lead once again, at 11-9. She managed to win a big lead for herself, with 17-12. However, Sindhu managed to claw her way back, reducing the deficit to 16-18. Yamaguchi managed to secure the lead again and took the second game 21-18.
In the decider game, Sindhu was trailing 4-11 at the interval, with Yamaguchi dominating the proceedings. The two-time Olympic medalist never really got a chance to take control as she lost the decider 11-21. India was trailing 0-1. In the second match of the tie, Unnati Hooda took on Tomoka Miyazaki. The first game was a back-and-forth affair. Trailing 6-4 at one point, Unnati took a narrow 11-10 lead at the interval. However, Unnati lost her lead and was in a deficit with a scoreline of 15-19. Unnati eventually lost the first game 16-21.
Unnati came back with a vengeance in the second game, racing to a 11-4 lead at the end of the interval. However, Tomoka fought back well, putting the Indian in a deficit of 13-15. Unnati fumbled her initial lead, losing the second game 18-21 and losing her match. Japan held a 2-0 lead.
In the all-important third match, the experienced women’s doubles pairing of Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand took on Yuki Fukushima and Mayu Matsumoto. The Indians had a back-and-forth duel, holding a 11-10 lead at the interval. The scores got level at 17-17 later, Treesa and Gayatri took the first game 21-17.
In the second game, the Indian pair held a lead of 11-8 at the interval. They helped India keep their hopes alive, stunning the world number three pairing 21-17, 21-16. India kept the tie alive with a scoreline of 2-1. Tanvi Sharma started India’s bid for redemption, but lost to Nozomi Okuhara 12-21 in the first game and trailed 4-11 in the second game at interval and lost the second game 10-21, giving the match to Japan.