Photo credit: Badminton Photos/BWF
Jakarta, January 22 (IANS) Two-time Olympic medallist P.V. Sindhu progressed to the quarterfinals of the Indonesia Masters 2026, where she will face top seed Chen Yu Fei inJakarta on Friday, as men's singles star Lakshya Sen and women's singles player Anmol Kharb also advanced to the next stage.
Former World Championship silver medallist Kidambi Srikanth, and men's doubles pair Hariharan Amsakarunan/M.R Arjun, too exited the BWF World Tour event.
With Chen leading their head-to-head 7–6, the quarterfinals against Sindhu on Friday promise to be closely fought. Sindhu booked her spot with a 21-19, 21-18 win over Denmark’s Line Hojmark Kjaersfeldt in 43 minutes.
Seventh seed Lakshya Sen also advanced and will take on Thailand’s Panitchaphon Teeraratsakul after a dominant 21-10, 21-11 victory over Hong Kong's Jason Gunawan in another 43-minute battle.
Anmol Kharb challenged former world No.1 and Olympic bronze medallist Nozomi Okuhara by winning the first game 21-16 before bowing out. Men's singles contingent Kidambi Srikanth and men's doubles Hariharan Amsakarunan/M R Arjun exited the tournament.
Earlier, Sindhu faced a tough first-round match but ultimately secured a straight-games victory over Japan's Manami Suizu in the opening round of the Indonesia Masters here on Wednesday. Sindhu had a surprising start in the first game, trailing 2-11 at the mid-game break. She had to defend four game points but managed to win the game 22-20, scoring six consecutive points. In the second game, she led throughout but couldn't establish a comfortable lead over Suizu until she ultimately won 21-18.
Meanwhile, former World No. 1 Kidambi Srikanth, who made it to the finals of the Malaysia Masters and Syed Modi International last year, faced Japan's Koki Watanabe in an exciting first-round match and edged out his Japanese opponent with a 21-15, 21-23, 24-22 victory.
After a strong start with aggressive shot-making in the opening game, Srikanth's game faltered in the second as he made errors, giving Watanabe a chance to catch up. In the third, he led 7-4 but made several errors and couldn't fully dominate Watanabe. Ultimately, in key moments, Srikanth's aggressive strokeplay helped him secure the win, keeping Watanabe at bay.
Last week, Sindhu, Lakshya Sen, Kidambi Srikanth, and H.S Prannoy made early exits from last week's India Open 2026, a HSBC BWF World Super 750 event. Lakshya Sen reached the furthest before ending his campaign in the quarterfinals. He kept pace with Lin Chun-Yi till the very end but fell short in the final exchanges as he went down in three games to end the host’s challenge.
Sen won the opening game against Lin but then struggled from the faster side of the court to go down 17-21, 21-13, 21-18 in the men’s singles quarterfinals.
