India’s Sankar Subramanian delivered a career-defining performance on Thursday, stunning World No. 2 Anders Antonsen of Denmark to enter the quarter-finals of the Swiss Open 2025 badminton tournament in Basel. The 20-year-old Indian shuttler, ranked 64th in the world, came from behind to register a 18-21, 21-12, 21-5 victory in a match that lasted 66 minutes.
Subramanian, a silver medallist at the Junior World Championships, had to fight his way into the main draw by winning two qualifiers on Wednesday. His triumph over the second-seeded Antonsen is widely considered the biggest win of his young career and has now set up a quarter-final clash with France’s Toma Junior Popov.
While Subramanian’s heroics lit up the day for Indian badminton fans, there were mixed results elsewhere. In women’s doubles, Commonwealth Games bronze medallists Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand cruised into the quarter-finals with a dominant 21-12, 21-8 win over Germany’s Selin Hubsch and Amelie Lehmann. The Indian duo, currently ranked ninth in the world, will face the eighth-seeded Hong Kong China pair of Yeung Nga Ting and Yeung Pui Lam for a spot in the semi-finals.
However, in men’s singles, India faced setbacks as former world No. 1 Kidambi Srikanth fell to sixth-ranked Li Shifeng of China. Srikanth started strong and matched the reigning Asian Games champion early on, drawing level at 10-10 in the first game. But Li pulled ahead decisively, ultimately sealing a 21-15, 21-11 win in just 37 minutes. Srikanth had earlier defeated compatriot HS Prannoy in the opening round.
Young talent Priyanshu Rajawat also bowed out, losing 21-15, 21-17 to France’s Popov—the same opponent Sankar Subramanian will now face in the quarters.
India’s campaign in women’s singles ended with defeats for Anupama Upadhyaya and Isharani Baruah. Upadhyaya narrowly lost to Indonesian fourth seed Putri Wardani 21-17, 21-19, while Baruah went down in a close three-game battle to China’s Han Qian Xi 19-21, 21-18, 18-21.
There were further exits for Indian shuttlers in mixed doubles as the pair of Sathish Karunakaran and Aadya Variyatth lost their round-of-16 match.
Notably, two-time Olympic medallist PV Sindhu, Malvika Bansod, and young prospect Anmol Kharb had all exited the tournament in the opening round on Wednesday.
With Subramanian’s breakthrough and the women’s doubles team still in contention, India’s hopes in Basel now rest on these few but promising shoulders.
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