Seventh seed H.S. Prannoy made an impressive start to his Taipei Open campaign with a commanding straight-games victory over Japan’s Minoru Koga on Wednesday, securing his place in the second round with a confident display.
The experienced Indian shuttler needed just 35 minutes to defeat Koga 21-11, 21-14, producing one of his most convincing performances of the season. Prannoy will next face the winner of the first-round match between India’s Mithun Manjunath and Hong Kong’s Jason Gunawan.
The victory comes as a welcome boost for the former World Championships and Asian Games bronze medallist, who has endured a challenging 2026 campaign. Ranked World No. 36, Prannoy had managed to progress beyond the opening round only three times this season before arriving in Taipei. He is also chasing his first quarterfinal appearance of the year, having failed to advance beyond the second round in any of his eight BWF tournaments so far.
With Lakshya Sen and Ayush Shetty absent from the tournament, Prannoy is spearheading India’s men’s singles challenge and will look to build on his encouraging start in the coming rounds.
Elsewhere in the men’s singles draw, Ronak Chouhan suffered an early exit after losing 21-14, 21-16 to Singapore’s Richie Duta Richardo in the opening round.
In the women’s singles competition, Shriyanshi Valishetty was knocked out following a 21-11, 21-12 defeat to Thailand’s Supanida Katethang.
India, however, had reason to celebrate through Anmol Kharb, who battled her way into the second round after overcoming compatriot Ishika Jaiswal in a hard-fought three-game contest. Anmol claimed a 21-15, 11-21, 21-19 victory in a match lasting 56 minutes.
The young Indian will next face the winner of the opening-round clash between fellow Indian Ashmita Chaliha and second seed Ti Lin Hsiang of Chinese Taipei.
India has fielded a strong contingent across all categories at the Taipei Open, with players competing in men’s singles, women’s singles, men’s doubles, women’s doubles and mixed doubles. Several Indian shuttlers are also participating in the qualifying rounds as they look to secure places in the main draw.
Prannoy’s convincing opening-round performance and Anmol’s gritty comeback victory provided positive results for the Indian camp as the tournament got underway, with more Indian players set to begin or continue their campaigns in the coming days.
