Former national champion Anupama Upadhyaya was among the rare bright spots on an otherwise disheartening day two for Indian shuttlers at the India Open 2025 on Wednesday.
India’s men’s singles journey faced major setbacks as HS Prannoy, Lakshya Sen, and Priyanshu Rajawat were eliminated following differing first-round losses at the USD 950,000 Super 750 event.
Even with the claimed home advantage, Kiran George remained the sole Indian competitor in the men’s singles. In the women’s singles, Anupama advanced to the second round alongside PV Sindhu after a tough battle against her friend and fellow Gopichand Academy trainee, Rakshitha Sree, winning 21-17, 21-18.
The 19-year-old hailing from Almora will next compete against Japan’s former world junior champion and sixth seed Tomoka Miyazaki.
Priyanshu Rajawat put forth a spirited show before losing 16-21, 22-20, and 13-21 to Japan’s world No. 7 Kodai Naraoka in a tough match that endured for an hour and 22 minutes.
On the nearby court, Su Li Yang from Chinese Taipei triumphed over HS Prannoy with scores of 21-16, 18-21, 12-21.
Lakshya Sen, coming off his Syed Modi International Super 300 championship last month, faced a disheartening defeat of 15-21, 10-21 against Chun Yi Lin from Chinese Taipei in his first match.
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In women’s doubles, Tanisha Crasto and Ashwini Ponnappa, coming off their Guwahati Masters victory, downed Kavya Gupta and Radhika Sharma 21-11, 21-12 to progress to the next round.
The Panda sisters, Rutuparna and Swetaparna, made an impressive comeback to overcome Thailand’s Phattharin Aiamvareesrisakul and Sarisa Janpeng with scores of 7-21, 21-19, 21-14.
In mixed doubles, Ashith Surya and Amruta Pramuthesh advanced to the next round by defeating K Tarun and Sri Krishna Priya Kudaravalli with scores of 21-14, 21-15.
Aakarshi Kashyap was defeated by Thailand’s Pornpawee Chochuwong with scores of 17-21, 13-21 in the first round.
Malvika Bansod, seen as India’s second-best women’s singles player following Sindhu, displayed immense fight but was defeated by world No. 4 Han Yue from China. Although Malvika was ahead 14-11 in the opening game, her mistakes enabled Han to come back and win 21-16, 21-11.
