PV Sindhu defeated Chiu Pin-chian in straight games to reach the French Open 2026 semi-finals. She remains India's only hope at the Paris tournament after other Indian shuttlers were eliminated in the earlier rounds.
PV Sindhu Advances to French Open 2026 Semi-Finals
Two-time Olympic medallist PV Sindhu kept India's campaign alive at the French Open 2026 badminton tournament after defeating Chinese Taipei's Chiu Pin-chian in straight games to enter the women's singles semi-finals on Friday. The world No. 11 Indian shuttler defeated world No. 17 Chiu 21-13, 21-14 at the Arena Grand Paris in a quarter-final encounter that lasted 39 minutes, according to Olympics.com.
Match Performance and Tournament Context
Sindhu dominated proceedings from the outset, taking an 11-5 lead at the interval in the opening game before comfortably closing it out. She carried the momentum into the second game, racing to a 7-0 advantage and maintaining her control to seal the match. The victory marked Sindhu's second win over Chiu, having also defeated the Chinese Taipei shuttler at the Asian Games 2026 last month.
Sindhu has now reached the semi-finals of four BWF World Tour tournaments this year. She previously made the last four at the Malaysia Open in January and the Australian Badminton Open in June, before winning the Japan Open title in July. The Indian will face either Indonesia's world championships bronze medallist Putri Kusuma Wardani or Japan's Hina Akechi in the semi-finals on Saturday.
Status of Indian Contingent
Sindhu remains India's only contender at the BWF Super 750 tournament after Ashmita Chaliha bowed out in the quarter-finals earlier on Friday. Chaliha, who had stunned three-time world champion Akane Yamaguchi in the pre-quarter-finals to register the biggest win of her career, went down 21-10, 17-21, 21-16 against Japan's Olympic medallist Nozomi Okuhara, according to Olympics.com.
India's men's singles campaign had ended on Thursday after Ayush Shetty retired hurt, while Lakshya Sen withdrew before his opening-round match. The Indian men's doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty, along with the women's doubles combination of Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand, had also suffered opening-round exits.
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