Lakshya Sen won the Japan Masters, contributing to India's most successful BWF World Tour season ever. Indian shuttlers secured nine titles and four runner-up finishes, surpassing the previous record of six titles and three runner-ups from 2023.
Lakshya Sen Wins Japan Masters Propelling India to Best BWF Season
Lakshya Sen's Japan Masters title win in Kumamoto helped India secure their best-ever Badminton World Federation (BWF) World Tour season ever, with the Indian players registering nine titles and four runner-up finishes this year in BWF Super 300 or higher-level tournaments outside India, as per the Badminton Association of India (BAI). Lakshya continued his fine run at the BWF World Tour circuit this year, securing the Japan Masters title on Sunday. The Paris Olympics 2024 semifinalist beat Japan's Koki Watanabe 13-21, 21-18, 21-14 in 64 minutes in the final on Sunday, as per ESPN, fighting back from being one game down. The Indian shuttler, seeded eighth in the tournament, has been in good form after winning the Hylo Open title.
Two-time Olympic medalist PV Sindhu has won two titles this year, including Japan Open (Super 750) in July and Hylo Open (Super 500) in November. She also finished runner-up in the French Open (October 2026), a Super 750 tournament. Lakshya himself has also made it to back-to-back tournaments, with Hylo Open (Super 500) and Japan Masters Open (Super 500). He also finished as runner-up in the All England Open, a prestigious Super 1000-level BWF tournament in March this year. Kidambi Srikanth also earned a runner-up finish in the US Open, a BWF Super 300 tournament.
The men's doubles duo of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty also emerged victorious in two Super 750 tournaments, the Singapore Open (May 2026) and China Masters (September), besides a runner-up finish in the Thailand Open (May 2026). Women shuttlers Devika Sihag (Thailand Masters, Super 300 in January-February 2026), Tanvi Sharma (Taipei Open, Super 300 in July-August 2026) and Ashmita Chaliha (Korea Open, Super 300 in August 2026) also brought pride to the nation. Women's singles competition earned India the most titles, with a total of five titles, including two from Sindhu. This surpasses the previous best of six titles and three runner-up finishes in 2023, making it India’s most successful season by this measure.
Lakshya defeated Indonesia's Jonatan Christie in straight games to clinch the men's singles title at the Hylo Open earlier this month. Lakshya registered a 21-17, 21-10 victory in the final, securing his seventh BWF World Tour title and his second Hylo Open crown. Lakshya climbed eight places to reach the 10th spot in the race to the finals after securing the Hylo Open title earlier this month. The Commonwealth Games champion has raised his chances of getting into the top eight with these two back-to-back title wins, entering the cut-off zone for the BWF World Tour Finals. The BWF Finals feature the top eight players/pairs across all disciplines and will take place this year from December 9 to 13 in China. Last year at this event, Lakshya made it to the semifinals, losing to home favourite Kenta Nishimoto in three games. He also achieved a runners-up finish in the All England Open this year.
