Rounak Chouhan advances to Macau Open 2026 main draw at Macao East Asian Games Dome; doubles eliminated in first round

Macau Open 2026 badminton: Rounak Chouhan advances to main draw on tough day for Indian doubles

All four Indian doubles pairs - three women’s and one men’s - in action lost their respective first-round matches.

Indian shuttlers had a mixed start to the Macau Open 2026 badminton tournament on Tuesday, with Rounak Chouhan qualifying for the main draw in the men’s singles while the four doubles pairs in action suffered opening-round defeats.

Rounak Chouhan, 96th in the badminton rankings , opened his qualifying campaign with a 21-18, 21-16 victory over world No.134 Huang Yu Kai of Chinese Taipei at the Macao East Asian Games Dome.

The 18-year-old Chouhan then secured a place in the main draw after Myanmar’s Hein Htut retired during their second qualifier, with the Indian badminton player leading 14-21, 21-15, 19-17.

Alap Mishra, Manraj Singh and Tushar Suveer - the other three Indian men’s singles qualifiers - failed to progress to the main draw.

In doubles, all four Indian pairs in action on the day lost their respective matches.

Women’s doubles pairs Ashwini Bhat-Shikha Gautam and V R Nardhana-Riduvarshini Ramasamy were both ousted in the first round after losing their matches in straight games.

Ashwini Bhat-Shikha Gautam went down 21-10, 21-8 against top seeds Amallia Cahaya Pratiwi-Siti Fadia Silva Ramadhanti of Indonesia.

VR Nardhana-Riduvarshini Ramasamy were beaten 21-10, 21-10 by Hsieh Yi-En-Teng Chun-hsun of Chinese Taipei.

Priya Konjengbam and Shruti Mishra won the first game but lost 20-22, 21-16, 21-12 against second seeds Ong Xin Yee and Carmen Ting of Malaysia for their third straight head-to-head defeat.

Bhargav Ram Arigela and Viswa Tej Gobburu, India’s lone men’s doubles pair at the BWF Super 300 tournament, also bowed out in the opening round after suffering a 21-16, 21-12 defeat against Boon Xin Yuan and Lwi Sheng Hao of Malaysia.

India’s men’s singles player Tharun Mannepalli and women’s shuttler Isharani Baruah, both of whom made the Indian badminton team for the Asian Games 2026 , will start their campaign on Wednesday.

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