India endured a mixed start to its campaign at the season-opening Malaysia Open on Wednesday.
As former world champion PV Sindhu and the men’s doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty progressed to the second round, while the women’s doubles challenge ended at the first hurdle in Bukit Jalil. Making her return to competitive badminton after a four-month injury lay-off, Sindhu came through a testing opening-round match against Chinese Taipei’s Sung Shuo Yun, winning 21-13, 22-20 in 51 minutes.
Sindhu began tentatively and trailed 1-6 early in the first game before finding her rhythm. Once settled, she took charge with her attacking play, moving ahead 11-9 at the mid-game interval and closing out the opener with authority.
The Indian shuttler maintained control in the second game and appeared on course for a comfortable victory when she led 14-9. Sung, ranked 31 in the world, raised her intensity late in the contest and drew level at 20-20, but Sindhu relied on her experience to close out the match in straight games.
Sindhu will face eighth seed Tomoka Miyazaki of Japan in the second round.
In men’s doubles, third seeds Satwik and Chirag made light work of Chinese Taipei’s Lee Jhe-Huei and Yang Po-Hsuan, registering a 21-13, 21-15 win to begin their 2026 season on a positive note. India’s women’s doubles pairs were unable to advance. Commonwealth Games bronze medallists Gayatri Gopichand and Treesa Jolly fought hard before losing 9-21, 23-21, 19-21 to Indonesia’s Febriana Dwipuji Kusuma and Meilysa Trias Puspitasari in a match that lasted over an hour.
Rutuparna Panda and Swetaparna Panda also exited the tournament, going down 9-21, 11-21 to second seeds Pearly Tan and Thinaah Muralitharan of Malaysia. In mixed doubles, Dhruv Kapila and Tanisha Crasto bowed out after a close three-game loss to the American duo of Presley Smith and Jennie Gai, losing 15-21, 21-18, 15-21.
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