Sindhu, Ashmita enter quarterfinals of French Open badminton

Double Olympic medallist P.V. Sindhu and young Indian shuttler Ashmita Chaliha sailed into the women's singles quarterfinals with straight-game wins over Japan's Riko Gunji and Akane Yamaguchi, respectively, at the $950,000 French Open badminton tournament here on Thursday (October 22, 2026).

Unseeded Ashmita was the star of the day, upsetting world No. 2 and third seed Yamaguchi 21-19 21-18 in a second-round match that lasted 37 minutes.

Sindhu then prevailed over Gunji 21-12 21-16 in a match lasting 44 minutes to progress to the quarterfinals.

Earlier in the day, India's Ayush Shetty and Tanvi Sharma bowed out in the pre-quarterfinals of their respective events.

Taking the court first among the Indians, Tanvi was no match for world No. 1 and top seed An Se Young of South Korea, losing 11-21, 14-21 in a 37-minute women's singles match.

Later, Shetty forfeited his match against sixth seed Kodai Naraoka of Japan due to an undisclosed injury while trailing 17-21, 6-11 in a men's singles second-round match.

Shetty had earlier defeated compatriot Kidambi Srikanth in the opening round to progress in the tournament.