India’s campaign at the Canada Open 2026 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 world No. 71, put up a strong fight against fourth seed and world No. 33 Beiwen Zhang of the United States before losing 20-22, 21-17, 21-17 in a hard-fought contest lasting one hour and seven minutes.The Indian shuttler started brightly and led 10-6 in the opening game, but Zhang fought back to snatch the first game. Aakarshi continued to battle throughout the match and pushed the decider to 17-17 before the American won four straight points to seal victory. The defeat was Aakarshi’s third loss to Zhang in as many meetings.India’s hopes were further dented when world No. 56 Tanya Hemanth suffered a straight-game defeat against Japan’s third seed and world No. 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 consecutive defeat to the Japanese player after also losing to her in the opening round of last week’s US Open.Aakarshi and Tanya were India’s last remaining players in the tournament after the rest of the contingent had already been knocked out.Former world No. 1 Kidambi Srikanth retired injured during his match against Malaysia’s Lee Zii Jia, while Devika Sihag, Rakshitha Ramraj, Anmol Kharb, Shriyanshi Valishetty, Saneeth Dayanand and Sankar Subramanian all exited in the early rounds.India’s challenge in the doubles event also ended on the opening day after Achutaditya Rao Doddavarapu and Arjun Reddy Pochana were eliminated. The Indian shuttlers will next compete at the Japan Open 750, which begins on July 14.
