India’s campaign at the 2026 Canadian Open ended after Akash Kashyap/Tanya Hemans lost in the second round of the women’s singles match at the Badminton World Super 300 Championship in Markham, Ontario.Akash, ranked 71st in the world, had a fierce competition with the fourth seed and American player Zhang Beiwen, ranked 33rd in the world, and finally lost 20-22, 21-17, 21-17 in a fierce battle that lasted 1 hour and 7 minutes.Indian badminton got off to a bright start, leading 10-6 at the start, but Zhang Wei fought back and snatched the first set. Akash continued to fight throughout the game, chasing the decisive game to 17-17, and the American team scored 4 points in a row to seal the victory. The loss was Akash’s third loss to Zhang in as many games.India’s hopes were further dashed when world number 56 Tanya Hemanth suffered a straight defeat to Japanese third seed Riko Gunji, world number 21.Gunzhi dominated the match from start to finish, winning 21-11, 21-11 in just 31 minutes. This is Tanya’s second consecutive loss to a Japanese player after losing to a Japanese player in the first round of the US Open last week.Aakash and Tanya are the last two remaining players from the Indian team after all other players from the Indian team were eliminated.Former world no.1 Kidabi Srikanth Devika Siharg, Rakshita Ramraj, Anmol Habu, Shriyansh Valishetti, Sanith Dayanand and Sankar Subramanian all bowed out in the early rounds after withdrawing due to injury against Malaysia’s Li Zijia.India’s challenge in the doubles also came to an end on the opening day with Achudditya Rao Dodavarap and Arjun Reddy Pochana being dropped. The Indian badminton players will next compete in the Japan Open 750 starting from July 14.
