At the Malaysia Open 2026, the badminton season for Indian shuttlers kicked off with mixed fortunes at Axiata Arena in Kuala Lumpur. Rising star Ayush Shetty produced an impressive performance to beat Paris Olympic bronze medallist Lee Zii Jia in the opening round while Lakshya Sen secured a victory over Singapore’s Jason Teh to enter the pre-quarterfinals. Meanwhile, Malvika Bansod in women’s singles and the men’s doubles pair of M.R. Arjun and A. Hariharan bows out early.
Twenty-year-old Shetty silenced the crowd, smashing past home favourite Zii Jia in straight games, winning 21-12, 21-17 in just 38 minutes. Shetty raced off to lead 11-7 at the interval and continued to test Lee Zii Jia with his deep smashes and aggressive backcourt play to dismantle the Malaysian’s defence, winning the first game.
The initial phase of the second game saw some fightback from Zii Jia. Egged on by an enthusiastic home crowd, he led 11-10 at the break. After the change of court, both exchanged points till 15-17 before Shetty unleashed his lethal smashes coupled with good net-play, using his wide reach to keep the Malaysian off balance, finishing with six consecutive points to seal the match in straight games. Shetty faces a tough challenge in China’s world No. 1 Shi Yu Qi in the Round of 16.
India’s top-ranked men’s singles player, Sen, beat Singapore’s Jia Heng Jason Teh 21-16, 15-21, 21-14.
Sen ,the Australian Open 2025 champion, dominated the opening game but lost the momentum in the second as Teh forced a decider with his deceptive gameplay. The 24-year-old Indian regained his rhythm in decider pulling away the game to enter pre-quarterfinals of Super 1000 event. Up next, he takes on Hong Kong’s Lee Cheuk Yiu.
Making her return to court after a six-month injury lay-off, Bansod lost to Thailand’s seventh seed Ratchanok Intanon. The 24-year-old Indian southpaw struggled to find her footing against the former world champion and went down losing 11-21,11-21. While the men’s doubles pairing of Arjun and Hariharan lost to Japan’s Hiroki Midorikawa and Kyohei Yamashita by 10-21, 20-22.
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