The Yonex-Sunrise India Open Super 750 tournament is set to begin on January 13 and will continue until January 18, 2026, at the Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium in New Delhi. The draw for the tournament has been released, and Indian shuttlers face a challenging path on their home turf.
Lakshya Sen, the 2022 India Open champion, will face fellow Indian Ayush Shetty in the opening round. This all-Indian clash means that only three of the four Indian men's singles players in the competition can advance to the second round. The winner of the Sen-Shetty match is slated to face either fourth seed Chou Tien Chen of Chinese Taipei or Kenta Nishimoto of Japan.
Former world number 1, Kidambi Srikanth, is set to compete against Lin Chun-Yi of Chinese Taipei, who was a member of the 2024 Thomas Cup bronze-winning team. If Srikanth clears the first hurdle, he may face Christo Popov in the second round. Popov recently made history as the first French player to win the BWF World Tour Finals men's singles title. H.S. Prannoy will begin his campaign against Lee Cheuk Yiu of Hong Kong, the finalist from the previous edition, after stepping into the main draw due to the withdrawal of Anders Antonsen of Denmark.
In the women's singles, former world champion P.V. Sindhu will face Thuy Linh Nguyen of Vietnam in the first round, an opponent against whom she has recently suffered two defeats. If Sindhu overcomes Nguyen, she could face second seed Wang Zhi Yi or her Chinese teammate Gao Fang Jie in the second round. Malvika Bansod, returning from a long injury break, will play Pai Yu Po of Chinese Taipei in her opening match. Top seed An Se Young will face former world champion Nozomi Okuhara, while third seed Akane Yamaguchi will be up against compatriot Riko Gunji.
In men's doubles, former champions Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy have a favorable opening match against Chen Zhi Yi and Presley Smith of the USA. Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand, two-time All-England semifinalists, will face Ornnicha Jongsathapornparn and Sukitta Suwachai of Thailand in the women's doubles opener.
The India Open 2026 is the second tournament of the 2026 BWF World Tour and is part of the India Open series that has been held since 1973. This year, the tournament is especially significant as it will serve as a crucial dress rehearsal for the BWF World Championships, which will also be held at the Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium in August. The India Open has a total prize pool of $950,000.
