Daijiworld Media Network - Orleans

Orleans, Mar 18: India’s Aakarshi Kashyap advanced to the women’s singles main draw of the Orleans Masters 2026 after winning both her qualifying matches at the Palais des Sports in France.

Kashyap began her campaign with a hard-fought 21-19, 17-21, 21-13 win over compatriot Shriyanshi Valishetty. She then secured a 21-17, 21-19 victory against Lee Yu-Hsuan to seal her place in the main draw.

In the opening round, Kashyap will face Commonwealth Games bronze medallist Yeo Jia Min.

In men’s doubles, the Indian pair of Arjun Reddy Pochana and Achutaditya Rao Doddavarapu went down 7-21, 9-21 to Chinese Taipei’s Lai Po-Yu and Tsai Fu-Cheng in the first round.

Meanwhile, former world No. 1 Kidambi Srikanth along with young shuttlers Ayush Shetty, Malvika Bansod, Anmol Kharb and Tanvi Sharma will begin their campaigns at the BWF Super 300 event on Wednesday.

Top Indian players including Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty, along with PV Sindhu and Lakshya Sen, have opted to skip the tournament.