Badminton
Japan Open 2025: Rutaparna-Swetaparna bow out in opening round
The Panda sisters lost to Japan’s Kokona Ishikawa and Maiko Kawazoe 13-21, 7-21 in straight games.
Rutaparna and Swetaparna Panda. (Photo credit: Rutaparna Panda/X)
Rutaparna and Swetaparna, the Panda sisters from Odisha, were knocked out of the women's doubles opening round at the Japan Open Super 750 in Tokyo on Tuesday.
The Indian duo lost to Japan’s Kokona Ishikawa and Maiko Kawazoe 13-21, 7-21 in a little over 30 minutes.
The tournament is part of the BWF Super 750 series and has a prize pool of $950,000.
Swetaparna and Rutaparna, the only Indians in action on the opening day of the tournament, were of no match to the Japanese opponents in what was their first match since the 2025 India Open Super 750 in January.
Indian shuttlers are set for a packed day on Wednesday, with eight exciting matches lined up.
In men's singles, Lakshya Sen will open against China’s Wang ZX while all four women's singles players — PV Sindhu, Unnati Hooda, Anupama Upadhyay, Rakshitha Ramraj — will be in action.
Men’s doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty, and Hariharan Amsakarunan-Ruban Kumar will also kick off their campaign along with Kavipriya Selvam-Simran Singhi in women's doubles.
