Baoji (China), May 12 (IANS) India’s Maisnam Luwang Meiraba and Tushar Suveer made winning starts while Dhruv Negi made an early exit from the 2026 Baoji China Masters, the BWF World Tour Super 100 event that has a total purse of $120,000 and started at the Baoji City Gymnasium in Baoji, China, on Tuesday.
Meiraba defeated Erfan Majeed Hajibeigy of Malaysia 21-14. 21-14 and will next play Huang Ping-Hsien of Chinese Taipei in the Round of 16 on Wednesday. Tushar Suveer defeated Chang Han-Tsai of Chinese Taipei 21-17, 21-9. He set up a clash with third seed Richie Duta Richardo of Indonesia in what is the third edition of the event organised by the Chinese Badminton Association and sanctioned by the BWF.
Dhruv Negi was the third Indian to take the court, losing to Sun Chao of China 13-21, 8-21 in a rather one-sided clash.
Among other Indians in the Round of 32, Manraj Singh received a bye and will play Toma Noda of Japan in the Round of 16. Ginpaul Sonna also got a bye in the first round. In other first-round matches, Nicholas Raj will play Yi Liu of Chinese Taipei on Wednesday.
In the women’s singles, top seed Rakshitha Sree Santhosh Ramraj will meet compatriot Shreya Lele in the first round on Wednesday. In contrast, seventh seed Ashmita Chaliha will play Sakura Masuki of Japan.
Third seed Shriyanshi Valishetty, World Ranked 53, to play Han Tu Chen of Chinese Taipei, while Madhavi Nagar will take on sixth seed Mutiara Ayu Puspitasari of Indonesia. Mansi Singh will meet Yuan An Qi of China. Second seed Tanya Hemanth, World Ranked 54th, Tonrug Saeheng, in the event, which is the eleventh tournament of the 2026 BWF World Tour.
–IANS
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