Badminton: Rounak Chouhan continues dream run, reaches US Open semi-finals

Teenager Rounak Chouhan’s extraordinary breakthrough on the senior international circuit gathered momentum as the 18-year-old cruised into the semi-finals of the US Open badminton tournament on Friday.

The Chhattisgarh prodigy, who entered the BWF World Tour Super 300 as a qualifier, followed up his stunning giant-killing round of 16 feat with a ruthless quarter-final victory. Chouhan dismantled veteran Israeli Olympian Misha Zilberman 23-21, 21-11 in a blistering 38 minutes at the Titan Gym to seal his first semi-final appearance at this level.

Chouhan’s sensational run in California underscores a mature, ice-cold temperament that belies his tender age. On Thursday night, the World 80 experienced a monumental upset packing top seed and world number six Chou Tien Chen in straight games, 21-17, 26-24.

The former World Junior No. 14 showed immense courage and reeled off six straight points to grab the first game before remarkably erasing a daunting 11-17 deficit in the second. He saved four game points before sprinting into the arms of his mentor, renowned Korean coach Park Tae Sang, who has been honing his explosive skills at the National Center of Excellence in Guwahati since 2023. Off the court, the teenager might joke about wanting the speed of The Flash, but his coverage on the electric court in Fullerton proved he already has a lightning-quick senior game.

ALL-INDIAN FINAL?

Chouhan’s triumph opens exciting prospects for Sunday’s All India Men’s Singles final. Former world number one Kidambi Srikanth rolled back the years in their quarter-final encounter, comfortably outclassing Chinese Taipei’s Liao Jhuo-Fu 21-9, 12-21, 21-8. In Saturday’s semi-finals, a resurgent Srikanth will take on fourth seed Yudai Okimoto of Japan, while Chouhan faces a tough test against eighth seed Su Li Yang of Chinese Taipei.

India’s joy doubled in the women’s singles draw as Thailand Masters champion Devika Sihag produced a brilliant coup. During the critical business end of both games, Sihag showed tremendous courage to upset third seed Riko Gunji of Japan 22-20, 21-19 to book a semi-final spot against second seed Line Christophersen of Denmark. Christophersen had earlier stopped India’s Tanvi Sharma 21-16, 11-21, 21-11, while Rakshitha Sree also bowed out after a 15-21, 21-16, 21-12 defeat to Canada’s Rachel Chan.

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Issued by:

Akshay Ramesh

Published on:

27 Jun 2026 14:06 IST