He might have lost his first match on his return, but Anthony Ginting was just happy to be back. For the former world No.2, who was nursing a shoulder injury that kept him away from the circuit for six months, the DAIHATSU Japan Open 2025 was a reminder of what he’d missed.

“I’m feeling really happy; I feel amazing,” said Ginting, who fell in the opening round to home hope Kodai Naraoka. “I start my week in Japan with my heart full of gratitude, because it wasn’t easy for me to pass the difficult time, six months, with rehab and everything. I missed everything about the circuit.”

Taking on Naraoka, Ginting took his time to get going, but he had his chances of taking the second game, with a 19-18 lead. However, Naraoka stopped him 21-13 21-19 for his first win in four matches against the Indonesian.

“Kodai is a tough opponent; our previous meeting was also tough,” said Ginting. “Today I wanted to just enjoy the match and try to get back the atmosphere of the tournament. I tried to play well in the second game. It was quite close but it’s a big difference between tournament and training.

“During the last six months, I worked on many things. I had a shoulder injury and there were many things to do, so I tried to deal with it one by one, and not to hurry; just enjoy it every time I had to do rehab.”

With the TotalEnergies BWF World Championships 2025 coming up next month, Ginting hoped he could find his feel in the remaining tournaments before the big event.

“There’s one more month for the World Championships, so I’ll try to give my best in the two or three tournaments before that and try to get back.”

Among others who have had injury troubles in recent times were Lakshya Sen and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy/Chirag Shetty. Sen has fallen in the first round of his last four tournaments, and he breathed a sigh of relief at having cleared his first hurdle since the All England in March.

“It feels really good to win a match,” said the world No.18. “I’ve been struggling on the court and off the court with niggles, which are keeping me away from badminton. It’s frustrating, the last few months, but I’m focussed and trying to do the right thing.

“I’ve been training well over the last few months. There were certain shoulder and ankle injuries. I was doing everything else to protect those parts. I’ve put in some good training weeks, and I just hoping that I get back to winning ways and play more matches. Play freely, win or lose, just go there and fight.”

Rankireddy and Shetty overcame a tricky opening phase against Korea’s Kang Min Hyuk and Ki Dong Ju, getting stronger as the match progressed to close it out 21-18 21-10.

Highlights

» The bottom half of the men’s singles draw saw the upset of second seed Anders Antonsen, with the Indonesia Open champion beaten by Lei Lan Xi 21-19 21-15.

» In the same half, third seed Shi Yu Qi was stretched by Toma Junior Popov, but eased through in the 21-9 in the third game. Shi takes on Ng Ka Long Angus, who prevailed in one of the closest matches of the day, 20-22 21-18 21-15, over Brian Yang.

» Another upset was that of home pair and Malaysia Open champions Yuki Fukushima/Mayu Matsumoto who came unstuck against new combination Jeong Na Eun/Lee Yeon Woo 21-17 21-19.

» Pusarla V Sindhu was among the high-profile players to exit as she crashed out in straight games to Sim Yu Jin, 21-15 21-14.

What They Said

“We were prepared for Ki’s serve. We were not shocked. We know all his tricks. So we kept it simple, we just didn’t want to take points off the serve; we just wanted to play it and see what he comes up with. We didn’t give too much respect to his service. Once you can do that, he won’t get aggressive on his serve.” – Satwiksairaj Rankireddy

“If she (Tomoka Miyazaki) keeps going the way she’s going, she’s going to be up there, top 3 for sure. She’s got all the mental stuff and the tactical awareness; the physical part is the easy part, she’ll keep working on that and she’ll be right at the very top in around two years.” – Kirsty Gilmour

→Results (Day 2)