PV Sindhu Reaches Japan Open 2026 Semi-finals After Nozomi Okuhara Withdraws

IE Author — Fri, 17 Jul 2026 09:45:57 +0000

Source: ChatGPT

Indian badminton star PV Sindhu has secured a place in the women’s singles semi-finals of the BWF Japan Open 2026 Super 750. She advanced after Japan’s former world champion Nozomi Okuhara withdrew from their scheduled quarter-final at the Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium on Friday because of an injury. Since the match was cancelled before play began, PV Sindhu received a walkover and moved into the last four of the Japan Open 2026.

Why did Sindhu receive a walkover?

Okuhara, the 2017 world champion and current world No. 11, pulled out of the tournament because of an injury before the quarter-final. Interestingly, the Japanese shuttler had herself reached the quarter-finals after top seed and world No. 1 An Se-young of South Korea withdrew from their Round of 16 clash.

Sindhu’s impressive run

Before advancing via walkover, world No. 10 Sindhu produced one of her best performances of the season by defeating China’s world No. 5 Han Yue 21-16, 21-14 in just 35 minutes. The straight-game victory improved her head-to-head record against Han Yue to 8-1 and secured her place in the quarter-finals.

Semi-final opponent

Sindhu will now face China’s world No. 4 Chen Yufei, the Tokyo 2020 Olympic champion, in the semi-finals on Saturday, July 18, at the Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium. Chen currently leads Sindhu 8-6 in their career head-to-head record, setting up another highly anticipated clash between two of badminton’s biggest stars.

Major milestone for Sindhu

The Japan Open marks:

Sindhu’s first-ever Japan Open semi-final, ending a 15-year wait at the tournament.
Her third BWF World Tour semi-final of 2026, following strong performances at the Malaysia Open (Super 1000) and the Australia Open (Super 500).
Her first Super 750 semi-final since the 2023 Denmark Open.
An opportunity to reach her first BWF World Tour final of the 2026 season.

India’s campaign

With Sindhu’s progress, she remains India’s lone representative left in the Japan Open after other Indian players, including men’s doubles pair Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty, exited the tournament.

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