Key Points

India's badminton contingent faced early exits at the Taipei Open 2025 qualifiers. Raghu Mariswamy and Manraj Singh showed flashes of brilliance in men's singles before bowing out. Mansi Singh delivered India's sole women's qualifier victory but couldn't advance further. The close defeats highlight India's need for more consistency at international tournaments.

Key Points: Eight Indian shuttlers exit Taipei Open 2025 qualifiers

  • Raghu Mariswamy won first round but lost to Indonesia's Zaki Ubaidillah
  • Manraj Singh edged Cheng Kai before falling to Malaysia's Tan Jia Jie
  • Mansi Singh was lone Indian women's qualifier winner before Thailand defeat
  • Isharani Baruah narrowly lost 22-24 in final set against Pitchamon Opatniputh
2 min read

Taipei Open 2025: Eight Indian shuttlers bow out in qualifying round

Indian badminton players Raghu Mariswamy, Manraj Singh, and Mansi Singh show promise but fall short in Taipei Open qualifiers.

"Manraj Singh fought hard and put up a valiant show, but lost the second-round battle 21-9, 19-21, 20-22 – Olympics.com"

New Delhi, May 7

Eight Indian shuttlers crashed out of the qualifiers round and failed to make it to the main draw of the Taipei Open 2025 on Tuesday.

Four Indian men and as many women shuttlers participated in the opening day's qualifiers at the BWF Super 300 tournament. Only three of them were able to get past the first round; however, they suffered heartbreak in the second round, according to Olympics.com.

Raghu Mariswamy, ranked 119th in the badminton rankings in the men's singles category, outwitted Macau's Pui Pang Fong 14-21, 21-16, 21-14. However, he bowled out after suffering defeat in straight games by Indonesia's world No. 67 Moh Zaki Ubaidillah 21-16, 21-17.

Manraj Singh, ranked 79th, also emerged triumphant in the first round, by overwhelming Chinese Taipei's Cheng Kai 19-21, 21-13, 21-11. However, he fought hard and put up a valiant show, but lost the second-round battle 21-9, 19-21, 20-22 to Malaysia's Tan Jia Jie in a closely contested affair.

In the women's category, Mansi Singh was the only Indian to notch a win. She defeated Tsai Hsin-Pei 22-20, 14-21, 21-17. Her run in the tournament was cut short after she lost to Thailand's Pitchamon Opatniputh 21-17, 21-10.

Among other players, Aryamann Tandon suffered a defeat against Malaysia's Kok Jing Hong 27-25, 10-21, 8-21, while Mithun Manjunath also lost against Tan Jia Jie in a tight encounter in the second game, 21-17, 19-21, 9-21.

In women's singles, Isharani Baruah pushed Pitchamon to the edge but crashed out with a 7-21, 23-21, 22-24 defeat. Ira Sharma lost 7-21, 18-21 to Chen Su Yu of Chinese Taipei, while Shreya Lele lost 14-21, 16-21 against Japan's Sorano Yoshikawa.

India squad:

Men's singles: Kidambi Srikanth, S Sankar Muthusamy Subramanian, Ayush Shetty, Tharun Mannepalli, Meiraba Luwang Maisnam;

Qualifiers: Aryamann Tandon, Manraj Singh, Raghu Mariswamy, Mithun Manjunath

Women's singles: Anupama Upadhyaya, Unnati Hooda, Anmol Kharb, Rakshitha Sree Santhosh Ramraj, Aakarshi Kashyap;

Qualifiers - Isharani Baruah, Mansi Singh, Shreya Lele, Ira Sharma

Women's Doubles: Rashmi Ganesh/Sania Sikkandar.

- ANI

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Reader Comments

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Priya K.
Tough day for Indian badminton 😔 But I must say Manraj Singh's match against Tan Jia Jie was absolutely nail-biting! That 20-22 loss in the decider shows how close we were. Need more such fighting spirit from our players 💪 #BadmintonIndia
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Rohan S.
Our players are showing promise but consistency is missing. Isharani Baruah's match against Pitchamon was so close (22-24 in final set)! If only we had better fitness coaches and sports science support, these narrow losses could become wins.
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Ananya M.
Why are we always struggling in Super 300 events? China, Japan, Malaysia have much better systems. BAI needs to organize more international exposure tournaments in India itself. At least our players won't have travel fatigue then! 🇮🇳🏸
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Vikram J.
Mixed feelings about this performance. On one hand, we're competing well against higher ranked players. On other hand, mental toughness in crucial points is lacking. That 27-25 first set win by Aryamann shows potential, but then he collapsed. Needs work!
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Sneha P.
Heartbreaking to see so many close matches go against us 😢 But let's not forget - we have Srikanth and Anupama in main draw! Hope they make us proud. Sometimes qualifier losses help main players study opponents better. Glass half full! ✨
K
Karthik R.
The scorelines show our players are putting up a fight, but losing steam in final sets. Maybe we need to look at training methods - Southeast Asian players seem to have better endurance. Time to bring foreign coaches again like we did for Gopichand era?

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