Macau Open 2026: Anmol Kharab Leads Indian Charge as Three Women Reach Pre-Quarterfinals

In the women’s singles section of the Macau Open Super 300 badminton tournament held on Wednesday, Anmol Kharab started off with a bang by qualifying in straight games, enabling three Indian women to qualify for the pre-quarterfinals stage. The eighth-seeded player had done excellently since her success at the Denmark Challenge quarterfinals last month. Anmol Kharab defeated Indonesia’s Mutiara Ayu Puspitasari by a score of 21-13, 21-16 within 42 minutes to qualify for the round of 16.

The 19-year-old Indian, ranked world no. 51, will now go up against Malaysia’s Goh Jin Wei. Also, performing exceedingly well was world no. 53 Rakshitha Sri Ramaraj who defeated Malaysia’s Kisona Selvadurai 21-16, 24-22 within 46 minutes and will face South Korea’s Kim Min Sun in the pre-quarterfinal.

Seventh seed and world No. 49 Shriyanshi Valisetty won 21-18, 19-21, 21-15 in a tough 56-minute match against compatriot Tasnim Mir. She will now face South Korea's Kim Min Ji. Shreya Lele's journey ended here, losing to fourth seed Han Qian Xi of China 12-21, 15-21 in 34 minutes. Despite putting up a strong fight against South Korea's Kim Min Ji, Aakarshi Kashyap also bowed out of the tournament after losing 17-21, 21-18, 17-21.

In men's singles, Raunak Chauhan recovered from a game deficit to defeat Chinese Taipei's Wu Tze Ying 18-21, 21-15, 21-19 in one hour and five minutes. However, S. Shankar Muthusamy Subramaniam failed to capitalize on a good start and lost to Chinese Taipei's Huang Ping-Hsien 21-11, 18-21, 16-21 in one hour and four minutes. India had a mixed result in mixed doubles. Ishan Bhatnagar and Shruti Mishra defeated Germany's Kelvin Devereux and Desiree Toepfer 21-4, 21-6 in just 16 minutes to advance to the pre-quarterfinals. They will now face the sixth seeded pair of Li Hong Yi and Huang Ke Jin of China.