India’s campaign at the Swiss Open 2026 badminton tournament ended in quarter-finals after Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty conceded a walkover in men’s doubles and Tharun Mannepalli lost his singles match on Friday.
The top-seeded Indian men’s doubles badminton pair withdrew from the BWF Super 300 tournament in Basel ahead of their match against Denmark’s Christian Kjaer and Rasmus Kjaer after Satwiksairaj Rankireddy complained of shoulder pain.
Earlier on Thursday, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty had held their nerve in a marathon three-game thriller to defeat Japan’s Hiroki Okamura and Kyohei Yamashita 21-15, 15-21, 28-26 in a contest that lasted one hour and 14 minutes.
Later in the day, Tharun Mannepalli, 43rd in the badminton rankings, went down against Tokyo 2020 bronze medallist Anthony Ginting of Indonesia 19-21, 21-19, 13-21 in a match that lasted an hour and six minutes.
The 24-year-old Indian badminton player started slowly and trailed 11-7 at the mid-game interval in the opening game.
After the break, he fought back to level the score at 12-12 before Ginting produced a four-point burst to move 16-12 ahead and eventually close out the game despite a late push from the Indian.
Mannepalli looked set to force the issue in the second game, opening up a commanding 19-13 lead. Ginting responded with six straight points to level the score at 19-19, but the Indian regained his composure to take the match into a decider.
The third game, however, proved one-sided. Ginting established control early with an 11-6 advantage at the interval and did not allow Mannepalli to draw level at any stage thereafter.
Two-time Olympic medallist PV Sindhu opted to skip the Super 300 meet, while Lakshya Sen – who made it to the final of the All England Open last week – also sat out the tournament.
Indian shuttlers will next be seen in action at the Orléans Masters Super 300 badminton tournament in France from Tuesday.