India exit Asian Games 2026 badminton without individual medal as men's team take bronze
India’s badminton campaign at the Asian Games 2026 concluded on Sunday, September 27, at the Ichinomiya City Municipal Gymnasium when all remaining Indian shuttlers were eliminated in the quarter-finals of the individual events. The tournament did yield a medal for India: a bronze in the men’s team event.
India’s women’s team were knocked out in the quarter-finals, and the country failed to secure an individual badminton medal at the Asian Games for the first time since the 2014 edition in Incheon, South Korea. That gap of 12 years ended the recent run of individual podium appearances by Indian shuttlers at the continental event.
The men’s team produced India’s notable result in Aichi-Nagoya. After a 3-0 opening win over Bangladesh, India beat Japan 3-0 in the quarter-finals to guarantee a medal, then lost to China 3-1 in the semi-finals. Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty recorded a team highlight by defeating Liang Weikeng and Wang Chang 21-11, 22-20, while China won the other three matches; the outcome gave India their second consecutive Asian Games men’s team medal.
PV Sindhu and Unnati Hooda reached the last eight in women’s singles before exiting in the quarter-finals. Sindhu opened with a 21-19, 21-14 victory over Chiu Pin-Chian and followed with a 21-9, 21-13 win against seventh seed Tomoka Miyazaki, then lost to fourth seed Chen Yufei 11-21, 21-18, 10-21. Unnati defeated North Korea’s Yu Mi Song, Malaysia’s Wong Ling Ching and sixth seed Putri Kusuma Wardani to reach the quarters, where third seed Akane Yamaguchi beat her 21-16, 14-21, 21-17.
In women’s doubles Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand progressed to the quarter-finals after wins over Hong Kong’s Lui Lok Lok and Tsang Hiu Yan and a victory over Japan’s Yuki Fukushima and Mayu Matsumoto, the same Japanese pair they had beaten earlier in the team event. Their run ended with a 21-18, 21-9 defeat by Malaysia’s Pearly Tan and Thinaah Muralitharan. Dhruv Kapila and Tanisha Crasto also reached the last eight before losing to top seeds Feng Yan Zhe and Huang Dongping 14-21, 21-18, 18-21.
The defending men’s doubles champions suffered an early exit in the individual draw when fourth seeds Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty were upset in the opening round by Thailand’s Peeratchai Sukphun and Pakkapon Teeratsakul, losing 21-12, 19-21, 14-21 despite taking the first game; the defeat ended the Hangzhou champions’ title defence. India’s men’s singles campaign also fell short of the last eight: Lakshya Sen was eliminated in the Round of 32 by Loh Kean Yew 12-21, 21-15, 14-21, while Ayush Shetty beat Kazakhstan’s Makhsut Tajibullayev 21-7, 21-7 before losing to third seed Chou Tien Chen 21-16, 19-21, 21-17.
The women’s team began with a 3-0 pre-quarter win over Kazakhstan but were beaten 1-3 by Japan in the quarter-finals. Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand earned India’s sole victory in that tie, while Japan won the remaining three matches to advance to the semi-finals, denying India a women’s team medal.
With every individual quarter-finalist eliminated, India failed to claim an individual badminton medal at the 2026 Asian Games; India finished the badminton programme with a single medal — the men’s team bronze in Aichi-Nagoya.
