Malayali doubles ace Treesa Jolly and her partner Gayatri Gopichand made a powerful start to the India Open 2026 badminton event in New Delhi on Tuesday.

The Indian duo defeated Thailand's Ornnicha Jongsathapornparn and Sukitta Suwachai 21-15, 21-11 in the round-of-32 game.

Lakshya Sen, too, got himself a statement win to begin the event, defeating compatriot Ayush Shetty in straight games (21-12, 21-15). Sen has three wins against the 20-year-old US Open champion.

Meanwhile, Maneesh K and Dhruv Rawat lost to Japan's Hiroki Midorkawa and Nami Matsuyama 9-21, 10-21.

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India has a strong contingent competing in the home event that is being held at the Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium in New Delhi till January 18.

P V Sindhu is the star of the pack, while the men's doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty will also be expected to finish on the podium. Thiruvananthapuram native H S Prannoy and doubles player M R Arjun are the other Malayalis participating in the event.

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