Lakshya Sen and Treesa-Gayatri Win at World Championships

Lakshya Sen recovered from a first-game setback to defeat Bulgaria’s Collins Valentine Filimon and reach the men’s singles second round on day two of the BWF World Championships 2026. The Indian won 16-21, 21-8, 21-4 in a 45-minute opening-round contest.

Sen’s victory was one of several positive Indian results, with the unseeded women’s doubles pair of Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand also advancing. They beat 16th-seeded Americans Lauren Lam and Allison Quynh Lee 21-15, 21-12 to move into the pre-quarterfinals.

Sen turns around opening-round test

Filimon took the opening game 21-16, but Sen responded emphatically over the next two games. The Indian levelled the match with a 21-8 second-game victory before sealing the contest with a dominant 21-4 final game.

The turnaround sent Sen into the second round of the men’s singles draw after 45 minutes on court. He will next face the United States’ Garret Tan, who advanced by beating Switzerland’s Tobias Kuenzi 21-4, 21-15.

The result gives Sen a successful start to his World Championships campaign after an early challenge from Filimon. His next match against Tan will determine whether he can continue his run beyond the second round.

In women’s doubles, Treesa and Gayatri produced one of the standout Indian results of the day. Despite entering the match unseeded, they defeated Lam and Lee, the 16th seeds, without dropping a game.

Treesa and Gayatri took 38 minutes to complete their 21-15, 21-12 win. Their straight-games result secured a place in the pre-quarterfinals and removed a seeded American pair from the competition.

Hooda advances as two mixed doubles pairs exit

India also had a winner in women’s singles as Unnati Hooda beat Myanmar’s Thet Htar Thuzar 22-20, 21-16. Hooda needed 40 minutes to get through a closely contested first game before completing the victory in two games.

Hooda’s reward is a second-round meeting with Canada’s Michelle Li, the 13th seed. Her 22-20 first-game win over Thet Htar Thuzar proved important before she followed it with a 21-16 result in the second game.

There was disappointment for India in mixed doubles, however, as both Rohan Kapoor and Ruthvika Shivani Gadde, and Ashith Surya and Amrutha Pramuthesh, exited in the opening round.

Day two therefore brought progress in men’s singles, women’s singles and women’s doubles, led by Sen’s three-game recovery and Treesa and Gayatri’s upset of the seeded Lam-Lee partnership. The next round will see Sen face Tan and Hooda take on Li, while Treesa and Gayatri prepare for their pre-quarterfinal appearance.