Kidambi Srikanth upset fifth seed Kodai Naraoka 21-15, 11-21, 21-18 and Lakshya Sen beat Dong Tian Yao 21-8, 21-14 as two Indian men reached the Kumamoto Masters quarter-finals on Thursday, while Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand lost in the women’s doubles last 16.
Kumamoto, Japan: The Kumamoto Masters Super 500 reached its pre-quarter-final round with two Indian men’s singles players still in it, and both left the court as winners. One won the hard way against a top-ten opponent; the other barely broke stride.
Srikanth gets the better of Naraoka
Kidambi Srikanth faced Japan’s Kodai Naraoka, the fifth seed and world No. 8, and took the first game 21-15. Naraoka answered with an 11-21 second-game win to force a decider, but Srikanth held on in the third to win it 21-18. It followed a three-game win over Denmark’s Rasmus Gemke in the previous round, 18-21, 21-16, 24-22, reported in our earlier Kumamoto coverage.
Lakshya sweeps past Dong
Lakshya Sen, the eighth seed and world No. 13, needed only two games against China’s Dong Tian Yao. He took the first 21-8 and the second 21-14. It was a far easier outing than his opener, when he came from 12-16 down in the first game to beat Chinese Taipei’s Chi Yu Jen, and it carries on the form he showed in winning the HYLO Open in Germany.
Jolly and Gayatri bow out
The Indian women’s doubles pair of Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand lost their last-16 match 21-14, 21-14 to Japan’s third seeds Rin Iwanaga and Kie Nakanishi, ending their tournament.
Two Japanese opponents await
Both Indian men now face Japanese opposition in the quarter-finals. Srikanth plays Koki Watanabe, and Lakshya meets Yushi Tanaka. The BWF World Tour Finals follow on December 9–13 in China.
Kumamoto Masters Japan 2026 (Super 500), 12 November
Men’s singles, round of 16: Kidambi Srikanth (India) bt Kodai Naraoka (Japan, 5) 21-15, 11-21, 21-18. Lakshya Sen (India, 8) bt Dong Tian Yao (China) 21-8, 21-14.
Women’s doubles, round of 16: Rin Iwanaga/Kie Nakanishi (Japan, 3) bt Treesa Jolly/Gayatri Gopichand (India) 21-14, 21-14.
Next: Quarter-finals: Kidambi Srikanth v Koki Watanabe (Japan); Lakshya Sen v Yushi Tanaka (Japan).
