India secure men's badminton medal at Asian Games 2026 as women's team eliminated in quarters

India's men's badminton team confirmed a place in the semi-finals and a medal at the Asian Games 2026, while the women's team were knocked out, at the Ichinomiya City Municipal Gymnasium in Aichi-Nagoya, Japan on September 22, 2026.

The men's side defeated Japan 3-0 in the quarter-finals to guarantee a podium finish and, according to the report, will return with medals in consecutive Asian Games for the first time in 40 years. The women's team lost 3-1 to Japan in their quarter-final and exited the tournament. Key contributors for the men were Lakshya Sen, Ayush Shetty and the doubles pairing Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty; the women saw PV Sindhu and Unnati Hooda lose singles ties while Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand recorded a doubles victory before elimination.

Lakshya Sen opened the men’s quarter-final with a comeback against Kodai Naraoka, recovering after the first game to win 11-21, 21-5, 21-19; the report states he came back from five points down in the deciding game. The coverage included the following message verbatim: "What an absolute brilliant win by @lakshya_sen against the World No. 7 and World Championship silver medallist Kodai Naraoka of Japan. Lakshya was trailing 14-19 in game 3 and won 7 points in a row from there. Incredible fight back. #AsianGames2026"

The men's doubles pair Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty secured a straight-games win over Takuro Hoki and Yugo Kobayashi, 21-18, 24-22, and Ayush Shetty completed the 3-0 tie by defeating Koki Watanabe 21-10, 21-19. Those three results sealed the one-sided victory for the Men in Blue in the quarter-finals.

In the women's quarter-final PV Sindhu won the opening game against Akane Yamaguchi but lost the match 23-21, 18-21, 11-21. Tomoka Miyazaki then beat Unnati Hooda 21-16, 21-18 in 21 minutes to extend Japan's lead before Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand kept India's hopes alive with a 21-17, 21-16 doubles victory.

India's chance of a women's comeback ended when Tanvi Sharma lost her singles match 21-12, 21-10 to Nozomi Okuhara, giving Japan a 3-1 win and eliminating the Indian women from the tournament.

India will face either China or South Korea in the men's semi-finals on Wednesday.