Jakarta, June 3 (IANS) Former world junior bronze medallist Ayush Shetty, the mixed doubles combination of Rohan Kapoor and Ruthvika Shivani registered hard-fought wins to advance to the second round of the Indonesia Open badminton tournament in Jakarta on Wednesday.

Shetty defeated China’s Weng Hong Yang 8-21, 22-20, 21-15, while Rohan and Ruthvika upset world no 20 Yang Po-Hsuan and Hu Ling Fang of Chinese Taipei 21-14, 21-14 to advance.

Thomas Cup 2026 bronze medallist Ayush Shetty came from a game down to beat world no.15 Weng for the second time in a row. Though he surrendered the first game, Shetty took an early lead in the second with a 4-point advantage at 8-4. Weng reacted quickly to close the gap, reaching his second game point. From 19-20, the Indians scored the crucial three points, forcing a decider.

While the second was an intense battle, Shetty earned a comfortable 6-point lead and maintained the advantage to close the match in an hour and six minutes. The Indian had defeated Weng previously at the Thomas Cup in April. He next meets Lee Cheuk Yiu of Hong Kong, who upset the 4th seed, Christo Popov.

In mixed doubles, Rohan and Ruthvika outplayed the higher-ranked Chinese Taipei pair, Yang Po-Hsuan and Hu Ling Fang, in straight games in just 34 minutes. Tough battle awaits as they meet the defending champions, Thom Gicquel and Delphine Delrue of France, in the next stage.

Earlier, PV Sindhu kicked off her Indonesia Open 2026 with a 25-23, 21-16 win over Thailand’s Busanan Ongbamrungphan.

Meanwhile, Lakshya Sen lost to home favourite Alwi Farhan 21-19, 21-16. Alwi had defeated World No 1 Shi Yu Qi at the Singapore Open last week.

In women’s singles on Thursday, PV Sindhu has to survive An Se-Young’s threat to advance, while Hariharan-Arjun meet Malaysia’s Kang Khai Xing and Aaron Tai, who advanced after opponents Satwik-Chirag exited during the opening game due to the former’s injury.

–IANS

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