Satwik’s shoulder injury resurfaced when Sat-Chi withdrew from the first round of the Japan Open
Injury came back to haunt Satwiksairaj Rankireddy, forcing him and Chirag Shetty to withdraw midway through the first round of the Japan Open. The star Indian duo decided to walk off the court after the opening game of the match, which they lost 19-21 to Denmark’s Daniel Lundgaard and Mads Vestergaard.
Satwik’s camp told India Today that they will skip the Super 1000 tournament in China and head straight for the BWF World Championship in India in August.
A shoulder injury has troubled Satwiksairaj Rankireddy several times this year. They were forced to withdraw from the Swiss Open in March. They withdrew from the Badminton Asia Championships in April and the Indonesia Open in June.
Looks like the right shoulder is still bothering Satwik. After losing a super tight opening game 19-21, he signals to the referee that he cannot continue and Satwik-Chirag withdraw from their R32 match.
The big tournaments are coming up, so I hope he feels good soon. pic.twitter.com/Tl4fgjp7Zp— Vinayakk (@vinayakkm) July 14, 2026
Amid an injury crisis, Satwik-Chirag won bronze at the Thomas Cup and followed that up with a title in Singapore in May. The Singapore Open triumph ended their two-year title drought on tour.
Recurring injuries are expected to sideline Satwiksairaj Rankireddy. He will next face Chirag at the BWF World Championships before heading straight to the Asian Games in Japan in September and October. Satwik-Chirag will enter the Asian Games as the defending champions.
JAPAN OPEN: SINDHU BREEZES INTO ROUND 2
While the Satwik-Chirag campaign ended on Tuesday, July 14, star shuttler PV Sindhu advanced to the second round of the competition.
She defeated Wong Ling Ching of Malaysia in a compact performance. World No. 10 won 21-14, 21-11 over World No. 37.
Sindhu controlled proceedings from the start and dictated the pace of the rally to open up a 7-4 lead. Although Wong struggled to stay in touch, her unforced errors allowed the Indian to steadily pull away and take an 11-6 advantage into the mid-game break.
The Indian ace looked comfortable in the rally and mixed her shots effectively to extend her lead to 14-9. Her backhand dribbles to the net, deft drops and well-disguised half smashes came out with precision.
While there were errors from stray goals, including a long throw-in and a shot wide of the net by the Indian, Wong was unable to capitalize on those opportunities.
A straight smash earned Sindhu seven game points and wrapped up the opening game at the second attempt.
Sindhu continued in similar fashion after switching sides, racing to an 8-2 lead before taking an 11-3 cushion in between.
The gap only widened after that as Wong continued to struggle with her accuracy, allowing Sindhu to take a 16-5 lead. The Malaysian briefly strung together three points before another error handed the initiative back to the Indian.
A slam into the net from Wong gave Sindhu 10 match points. The Indian missed the first with a long return before Wong found the net on the next point to give Sindhu a comfortable straight-sets victory.
JAPAN OPEN: MORE RESULTS
Apart from these two results, India had a mixed ride on the opening day of the Japan Open Super 750.
Dhruv Kapila and Tanisha Crasto advanced to the second round after beating Scotland’s Alexander Dunn and Julie Macpherson 21-16, 21-14 in their mixed doubles opener.
However, Rohan Kapoor and Ruthvika Shivani Gadde were eliminated in the opening round after losing 11-21, 10-21 to top seeds Feng Yan Zhe and Huang Dong Ping of China.
Playing India’s final match of the day, Hariharan Amsakarunan and MR Arjun went down in three sets against Chinese Taipei’s Lee Jhe-Huei and Yang Po-Hsuan in the men’s doubles.
– The end
Issued by:
Kingshuk Kusari
Published on:
14 Jul 2026 18:32 IST