India faces setback at the Open Badminton event 2025

Open Badminton: The India Open Badminton 2025 ended on a disappointing note for the home country. None of the 44 Indians in the tournament failed to reach the finals, while Danish player Mia Blichfeldt criticised the “bad conditions” at the KD Jadhav Indoor Hall of the Indira Gandhi Sports Complex.

The poor organisation raised questions about New Delhi hosting the 2026 edition, as the Badminton Association of India (BAI) and the Sports Authority of India (SAI) sparred over taking responsibility for the shortcomings.

Men’s doubles: Semis heartbreak for Rankireddy and Shetty

The best Indian performance came from seventh-seeded men’s doubles pair Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty, who reached the semi-finals. They lost to Malaysian third seeds Sze Fei Goh and Nur Izzuddin 21-18, 21-14 but earned $13,300 in prize money.

Also read: Hockey India League: JSW Soorma secure 5-1 win over Delhi SG Pipers

Women’s singles: Sindhu reaches quarters

PV Sindhu, playing her first tournament since her December wedding, reached the singles quarter-finals. She won her first two matches in straight games but lost to Indonesia’s fourth seed Gregoria Mariska Tunjung 21-9, 19-21, 21-17.

Double Olympic Sindhu, who has so far won 939,536 dollars in career prize money, is 29 and hopefully has bigger things to achieve going forward.

Men’s singles: Lakshya Sen crashes out early

Lakshya Sen, who had a stellar 2024 Paris Olympics campaign, was knocked out in the first round. He lost to Chun-Yi Lin of Chinese Taipei 15-21, 10-21.

Sen, 23, is the brightest Indian singles player. He has already won the Thomas Cup men’s team title as part of the 2022 Indian team and the 2022 Commonwealth Games gold. He is too good to be affected by the defeat for long.

Both Sindhu and Sen had opted for rest after the Paris Olympics for varied reasons. But clearly, they were not on top of their game at the Indian Open.

Kiran George, the world’s 38th ranked player, was the only Indian men’s singles player to reach the quarter-finals. He lost to China’s Weng Hong Yang 13-21, 19-21.

Doubles and mixed doubles: Indian pairs falter

In women’s doubles, both Indian pairs exited in the round of 16. Ashwini Bhat K. and Shikha Gautam were no match for fourth seeds Yi Jing Li and Xu Min Luo, losing 7-21, 10-21 while seventh-seeded Tanisha Crasto and Ashwini Ponnappa lost a hard-fought match to Japanese Yuki Fukushima and Mayu Matsumoto 9-21, 21-23.

In mixed doubles, Dhruv Kapila and Tanisha Crasto fell to Japan’s eighth seeds Hiroki Midorikawa and Natsu Saito 18-21, 17-21. Ashith Surya and Amrutha Pramuthesh lost to the Chinese Taipei fifth-seeded pair Po-Hsuan Yang and Ling Fang Hu 8-21, 11-21.

Also read: Delhi cricket teams lacking ‘intensity’ fail to meet expectations

Organisational lapses under scrutiny

It was the second consecutive BWF tournament plagued by issues with the roof of the playing arena and other conditions. During the Malaysia Open (January 7–12), the roof at the Axiata Arena leaked, causing several matches to be rescheduled.

In New Delhi, the roof did not leak, but Danish world No 23 Mia Blichfeldt referenced it when she said, “birds shitting on the courts…”.

This brought to mind the porous roof of the main arena at the Indira Gandhi Sports Complex during the 1993 World Cup badminton. After rainwater seeped through the roof and onto the courts, disrupting matches, SAI and BAI blamed each other.

The India Open 2025, however, was held at the KD Jadhav Indoor Hall, built for the 2010 Commonwealth Games. This venue also faced sharp criticism when Blichfeldt fell ill – for the second straight year during the India Open in Delhi – and attributed it to the “bad conditions”.

“It’s not fair to anyone that we have to train and play in smog, birds shitting on the courts, and dirt everywhere. These conditions are too unhealthy and unacceptable,” she wrote on her Instagram handle.

In response, BAI announced that it was, in consultation with BWF, exploring alternative venues for the 2026 edition. BAI secretary Sanjay Mishra revealed, “As hosts, we gain access to the stadium and its infrastructure only four days before the event, which poses significant logistical challenges.”

“We are already in discussions with the BWF to explore alternative venues and are actively evaluating the infrastructure options,” he said.