India eliminated 1-3 by Japan in Asian Games women's badminton quarter-finals

India's women's badminton team were beaten 1-3 by defending champions Japan in the quarter-finals of the 2026 Asian Games at the Ichinomiya City Municipal Gymnasium on Tuesday, September 22, extending India's Asian Games medal drought to 16 years. Their last podium finish was a shared bronze with Japan at the 2014 Games in Indonesia.

Japan arrived with a line-up containing multiple top-10 players, leaving India to face higher-ranked opposition across the tie. The tie opened with PV Sindhu facing World No.3 Akane Yamaguchi, a match India identified as their best chance of taking a point. Expectations of a tough contest were borne out as the remaining Indian shuttlers were also matched against higher-ranked opponents.

Sindhu’s meeting with Yamaguchi produced a three-game match in which Sindhu recovered from a mid-game deficit to take the first game 23-21; that opening game lasted 26 minutes. In the second game Sindhu adopted an aggressive approach at the net, a tactic the report described as backfiring when she conceded multiple errors and lost 18-21 in 23 minutes. Trailing 6-14 in the decider, Sindhu was unable to bridge the gap and dropped the final game 11-21.

Unnati Hooda was beaten in straight games by World No.7 Tomoka Miyazaki, having already lost the first game 16-21 and surrendered an 11-4 lead in the second. The report noted Unnati had used high net play early to force Miyazaki into dribbles, but Miyazaki moved ahead after introducing deceptions and remained the stronger player on the day.

World Championships bronze medallists Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand produced a win for India by defeating the World No.3 doubles pair Yuki Fukushima and Mayu Matsumoto 21-17, 21-16 in under an hour. That straight-games victory provided a brief lifeline for India in the tie.

The tie concluded when Tanvi Sharma lost the third singles match 12-21, 10-21 to former world champion Nozomi Okuhara, handing Japan a 3-1 victory and ending India's run in the team event.

The defending champions Japan will now face An Se Young's South Korea in the semi-final; South Korea reached the final four after beating Malaysia 3-1 in their quarter-final.