KUMAMOTO (JAPAN): India's women's doubles pair of Gayatri Gopichand and Treesa Jolly made a winning start at the Kumamoto Masters Japan on Tuesday. They beat home pair Hinata Suzuki and Nao Yamakita 21-17, 21-14 in a 42-minute round-of-32 match and will meet third seeds Rin Iwanaga and Kie Nakanishi of Japan in the pre-quarterfinals.
India on Tuesday
- Men's doubles: Hariharan Amsakarunan and M.R. Arjun advanced when Malaysia's Aaron Chia and Soh Wooi Yik retired hurt with the Indians leading 11-6
- Mixed doubles qualifying: Dhruv Kapila and Radhika Sharma lost 16-21, 15-21 to second-seeded Americans Chen Zhi Yi and Francesca Corbett
- Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty, and Malvika Bansod, withdrew
- Lakshya Sen starts his campaign on Wednesday
The tournament is a Super 500 event with $500,000 in prize money. Gayatri, born in Hyderabad in 2003, is the daughter of former shuttlers Pullela Gopichand and P.V.V. Lakshmi. With Treesa she won bronze at the 2022 Commonwealth Games and at the 2026 World Championships.
