Baddies discover some bright spots in Hong Kong Open

India's campaign at the Hong Kong Open Super 500 yielded mixed results, with promising performances from the men's singles players contrasted by a disappointing exit for PV Sindhu and the women's doubles teams.

Four Indian men reached the round of 16, marking the best collective showing for the country in men's singles at this level of tournaments in 2025. Lakshya Sen battled past Chinese Taipei's Wang Tzu Wei 22-20, 16-21, 21-15 in 73 minutes, showing resilience after dropping the second set. HS Prannoy delivered the day's most impressive result, dismantling world number 14 Lu Guangzu of China 21-17, 21-14 in just 44 minutes—a stark contrast to their previous marathon encounters.

Qualifier Kiran George continued his strong form with a straight-games victory over Singapore's Jason Teh, winning 21-16, 21-11 in 34 minutes. Ayush Shetty, the sole Indian to win a BWF Tour title this year at the US Open, came from a game down against Chinese Taipei's Su Li Yang, prevailing 15-21, 21-19, 21-13 in 64 minutes. His highlight included a rare racket change mid-rally in singles play.

PV Sindhu suffered her sixth first-round exit on the BWF World Tour in 2025, losing to Denmark's Line Christophersen 21-15, 16-21, 19-21 in 58 minutes. This marked Sindhu's first defeat to Christophersen in six meetings. Anupama Upadhyaya fell to fourth seed Tomoka Miyazaki of Japan 21-17, 20-22, 21-14, while Rakshitha Ramraj was overwhelmed by Thailand's Ratchanok Intanon 21-13, 21-7.

World number 9 pair Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty, fresh from their World Championships bronze medal, advanced to the round of 16 with a 21-13, 18-21, 21-10 victory over Chinese Taipei's Chiu Hsiang Chieh and Wang Chi-Lin in 59 minutes. The eighth-seeded duo will face either Japan's Kenya Mitsuhashi-Hiroki Okamura or Thailand's Peeratchai Sukphun-Pakkapon Teeraratsakul in the next round.

Hariharan Amsakarunan and Ruban Kumar Rethinasabapathi also participated in the men's doubles draw but their results were not detailed in available reports.

The Panda sisters, Rutaparna and Swetaparna, provided the only bright spot in women's doubles, defeating Hong Kong's local favorites Oi Ki Vanessa Pang and Sum Yau Wong 21-17, 21-9 in 28 minutes.

In the mixed, both Indian pairs exited in the first round. Dhruv Kapila and Tanisha Crasto, despite their World Championships quarterfinal run, lost to Chinese Taipei's Chen Cheng Kuan and Hsu Yin-Hui 21-16, 21-11 in 31 minutes. Rohan Kapoor and Ruthvika Gadde fell to China's second seeds Feng Yan Zhe and Huang Dong Ping 21-14, 21-17.

The qualifying rounds featured significant all-Indian drama. Tharun Mannepalli stunned former world number one Kidambi Srikanth 28-26, 13-21, 21-18, but subsequently lost to Malaysia's Jun Hoh 23-21, 13-21, 18-21, missing out on the main draw. Kiran George successfully navigated qualifiers by defeating Malaysia's Cheam June Wei 21-14, 21-13 and compatriot Sankar Subramanian 21-18, 21-14.

The Hong Kong Open holds special significance for Indian badminton, with only two Indians having won the title: Prakash Padukone claimed the inaugural men's singles crown in 1982, while Saina Nehwal captured the women's title in 2010. The tournament offers $500,000 in prize money and serves as a crucial BWF World Tour Super 500 event.

India's campaign continues with several players still in contention for deeper runs, particularly the men's singles quartet and the Satwik-Chirag partnership in doubles.

Badminton Photo/Yves Lacroix via PTI Photo