India Vs Japan Highlights, Badminton Asia Team Championships 2026: JPN Secure 3-2 Comeback Victory Over IND

Ayush Shetty has started his opening match against Japan's Kenta Nishimoto. The world no. 13 will be a tough one to crack for Ayush but the Indian shuttler will be hoping for a positive start.

Ayush Shetty is standing up to the formidable Nishimoto in their men's singles match. The Indian shuttler is struggling at 16-18 in the first game.

A brilliant performance from Ayush Shetty and he powers himself ahead in the opening game against Kenta Nishimoto. He was down 16-18, but then took five points in a row to take the game in his favour. He will be confident entering the next one now.

Kenta Nishimoto collected himself well and has come back strong in the second game. He has not allowed Ayush to use his win in the first game to his advantage and raced to a 14-7 lead. Nishimoto held his lead even at the break. Ayush needs to bring out some spark to turn things around, just like the first game.

After a sloppy loss from a winning position in the first game, Nishimoto doesn't commit any more mistakes as he wins the second game 21-15 against Ayush Shetty. Ayush was trailing in the game from the earlier stages and Nishimoto never allowed the lead to slip way. The match now enters the third and the decider game.

Ayush Shetty gets his touch back in the start of the third set and pushes back Nishimoto to slip into a 11-6 lead at break. He has taken 7 consecutive points and established his lead. He will not want to let it go and give India a victorious start to the tie.

What a win to open the tie for India! Ayush Shetty has done it and he has given India a 1-0 lead in the tie against Japan. He defeats Kenata Nishimoto 21-11. Ayush came back from behind to win the first game, lost the second, but dominated in the third and gave now chance to Nishimoto. The likes of Satwik-Chirag, HS Prannoy and Kidambi Srikanth will be have the responsibility to utilise the lead in their favour.

Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty have started their doubles clash against Takuro Hoki and Yugo Kobayashi on a dominant manner. They have raced to a lead in the break and is currently leading 12-10. They will want to close out the first game and go for the win in straight-games.

Satwik-Chirag's opponent Hoki-Koba made history in 2021 by becoming the first-ever Japanese men's doubles team to win Gold at the BWF World Championships. They also reached the World No. 1 ranking in September 2022.

Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty establish their lead against Takuro Hoki and Yugo Kobayashi as they take the first game 21-18. It became a close encounter after the break but both Satwik and Chirag kept a hold on their nerves to close down the first game and take a lead. They will now to secure a victory by straight-games by winning the second as well.

Takuro Hoki and Yugo Kobayashi produce a strong fight against Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty in the second game as they go up by a margin of 16-13. They will want to level things by winning this game and push things in a decider. A loss in this match will make things tight for Japan.

After an underwhelming performance in the opening game, Takuro Hoki and Yugo Kobayashi show their real mettle in the second game against Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty and they clinch the second game 21-15. Things are now level and both the duo will now enter the decider in pursuit to sealing the victory in their favour.

Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty have returned strong in the third game and they are edging closer to clinching the decider and the entire match in their favour. They have powered themselves to a massive 16-8 lead against the formidable Hoki-Kob and will look to seal the victory soon, helping India get a 2-0 lead in the tie.

Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty seal the victory against Takuro Hoki and Yugo Kobayashi and power India into a 2-0 lead in the tie against Japan. They won the first game after some tough competition but lost the second. In third, they brought out their real self and absolutely dominated Hoki-Koba to secure a 21-18, 15-21, 21-12 win. HS Prannoy will be in action next against Yushi Tanaka.

The first game between HS Prannoy and Yushi Tanaka has commenced with a lot of intensity and a lot of to and fro of points. Tanaka has powered into a lead of 17-15 and will look to commit no errors and seal the first game which is much-needed for Japan to stay alive in the tie. Prannoy, meanwhile, is well-known for suddenly turning things to his favour. He will keep searching for the opportunity.

On expected lines, Tanaka wins the first game. Prannoy was going toe to toe with Tanaka till 17-16, but since then Tanaka slipped away taking his lead to 19-16 and then secured consecutive five points to seal the victory in the first game. He will look to use the momentum and win this clash to bring Japan back in the tie.

Tanaka has not allowed the momentum to slip away and has doubled down on Prannoy as he drives away to a 11-5 lead at the break in the second game. Prannoy is now feeling the pressure as he desperately needs a streak of points to even compete in this game. Tanaka winning will bring back Japan in the tie.

On expected lines, HS Prannoy falls short and Yushi Tanaka secures a victory by a margin of 21-16, 21-11. Prannoy completed well in the first game and at one time, they were going neck to neck. But in the second game, Tanaka established his dominance and blew away Prannoy. With this result, Japan are back in the game and closed the gap down to 2-1. Hariharan Amsakarunan and Pruthvi Krishnamurthy Roy will be in action against Kakeru Kumagai and Hiroki Nishi next.

Krishnamurthy Roy and Amsakarunan are trailing against Kumagai-Nishi as the Japanese duo race to a 11-8 lead in the first game of the clash. Kumagai-Nishi will know the task in hand and if they can win this match, they can level the tie and send it into a decider. For that, they needed an intense start and they have found it.

Amsakarunan-Krishnamurthy Roy are not off to a good start as they have lost the first game. They will now have to win both their remaining games to help India win the tie. Kumagai-Nishi carried on the momentum they created in the earlier stages and after the break, they only allowed Amsakarunan-Krishnamurthy Roy to take six points. At one point, they picked up 5 points at a stretch as well. Pressure is now on the Indians.

A quick end to the clash and Kumagai-Nishi take the victory by straight games. Amsakarunan-Krishnamurthy Roy gets beaten 21-14, 21-10. With it, Japan has now levelled things 2-0. They have made a brilliant recovery from 2-0 and have now brought things to a decider. Once again India enter a do or die contest and Tharun Mannepalli will be in action in the decider against Koki Watanabe.

In the crucial decider clash, Mannepalli has edged forward to take a 11-8 lead in the break of the first game. This is a narrow lead but will give psychological advantage to young Mannepalli. He will look to extend the lead and gain the upper hand early in the decider against Watanabe.

Tharun Mannepalli starts brilliantly against Watanabe and snatches away the first game 21-12. With the fate of the tie depending on the decider, he was under pressure but he never let it build on him. Allowed only four points to his opposition after the break and closed down the game comfortably. He will not want to give Watanabe the chance to get back in the match.

24-year-old Mannepalli is known for his incredible grit and "never-say-die" attitude, often winning long, three-game matches after trailing. He recently defeated World No. 14 Toma Junior Popov in the Arctic Open 2025.

After losing the first game against Mannepalli, Watanabe returns strong by taking the second game 21-14. He picked up momentum since the start and powered himself into the lead. At one point, it seemed like Mannepalli can make a comeback in the game when he made the score 13-10, but Watanabe broke ahead once again and this time he never looked back. The clash enters the deciding game now.

A heartbreaking defeat from Tharun Mannepalli and Koki Watanabe comes back from behind to seal a 12-11, 21-14, 21-11 win. Mannepalli won the opening game, but he was completely outplayed in the next two games and Watanabe dominated his way to the win. With this result, Japan come back from behind to secure a 3-2 win. They were down 2-0 after Ayush Shetty and Satwik-Chirag won, but then they won three in a row to seal the victory.

India has already completed its group stage matches and has successfully qualified for the quarter-finals as the second-placed team from Group C. Singapore lost both their ties and are now eliminated. Japan topped the group, while India finished second. India will play Korea in the quarter-finals on Friday, February 06.

That’s a wrap! We’ll be back with another live blog soon, until then, bye-bye.