India had a mixed day at the Kumamoto Japan Masters, a BWF World Tour Super 500 class badminton tournament, here on Wednesday. PV Sindhu won her first-round match, but Lakshya Sen fell out of the men’s singles draw. Sindhu, a two-time Olympic winner, upset eighth seed Busanan Ongbamrungphan of Thailand 21-12, 21-8 in 52 minutes to win the women’s singles title in this tournament and maybe make up for a lackluster season.

The semifinalist for the Olympic Games in Paris, Lakshya Sen, lost three games in a battle of attrition that lasted 74 minutes after colliding with Malaysia’s Leong Jun Hao. Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand, India’s best women’s doubles team, had fallen in the first round on Tuesday.

Sindhu, who was hoping to snap a 24-month drought and win her first championship since the Singapore Open in 2022, got off to a poor start as Ongbamrungphan took a 5-1 lead. However, the 20th-ranked Indian in the BWF Rankings battled back to take an 11–10 lead. After that, 29-year-old Sindhu grabbed complete control of the match and won seven straight points to win the first match. In the second game, she maintained the same pace and led 4-0 before the Thai girl scored her first point.

In the second game, Ongbamrungphan made an effort to rally, but Sindhu was in fine form and won 11 of the last 12 points to complete the victory. In the second round, she will compete against Michelle Li of Canada. In her first match, Michelle Li defeated Natsuki Nidaira of Japan in straight games. Sen, meanwhile, got off to a strong start against Leong Jun Hao, winning Game One 22–20 after rallying from a 13–16 disadvantage.

He rallied from a 1-4 deficit to tie the match at 6-6 in the second game, but the Malaysian took an 11-7 lead. After falling down 14–14, Leong seized charge and won 21–17. In the final, Sen had a little lead, but the Malaysian shuttler continued catching up to him and scored the last five points from 17–16 to win the third game and the match.