India’s campaign at the 2026 Canada Open came to an end after Aakarshi Kashyap and Tanya Hemanth suffered defeats in the second round of the women’s singles competition at the BWF Super 300 tournament in Markham, Ontario.Aakarshi, ranked 71st in the world, put up a strong fight against fourth seed and world number 33 Beiwen Zhang of the United States before losing 20-22, 21-17, 21-17 in a hard-fought battle that lasted one hour and seven minutes.The Indian shuttler started brightly and took a 10-6 lead in the first game, but Zhang fought back to take the first game. Aakarshi continued to battle throughout the match to push the decider to 17-17 before the American won four straight points to seal the victory. The loss was Aakarshi’s third loss to Zhang in as many meetings.India’s hopes were further dented when world number 56 Tanya Hemanth suffered a straight-game loss to Japanese third seed and world number 21 Riko Gunji.Gunji dominated the contest from start to finish, securing a 21-11, 21-11 victory in just 31 minutes. It was Tanya’s second straight loss against the Japanese after she also lost to her in the first round of last week’s US Open.Aakarshi and Tanya were the last remaining Indian players in the tournament after the rest of the contingent had already been kicked out.Former world no Kidambi Srikanth he withdrew injured during his match against Malaysia’s Lee Zii Ji, while Devika Sihag, Rakshitha Ramraj, Anmol Kharb, Shriyanshi Valishetty, Saneeth Dayanand and Sankar Subramanian all bowed out in the early rounds.India’s doubles challenge also ended on the first day after Achudaditya Rao Doddavarapu and Arjun Reddy Pochana were eliminated. The Indian shuttlers will next compete in the Japan Open 750, which begins on July 14.
