New Delhi, Sep 26 (IANS): Indian shuttler HS Prannoy has questioned the scheduling at the Asian Games 2026, pointing to the tight turnaround between matches as Ayush Shetty and Unnati Hooda were forced to play twice on Saturday, with their second-round matches ending just hours before their Round of 16 fixtures later in the evening.
“This year’s Asian Games schedule looks like a South zone championships schedule. Medal ceremony went till 11 pm for the team event and so many players had first match the next day. And now 2 singles matches scheduled on the same day. Just crazy,” Prannoy posted on X.
The issues regarding the scheduling became clear on Saturday when both Ayush and Unnati reached the Round of 16, and will have to go back onto the court in the evening for their next singles match.
Ayush won against Kazakhstan’s Makhsut Tajibullayev 21-7, 21-7 in just 21 minutes, while Unnati had to play for 79 minutes in a tight three-setter before beating Malaysia’s Wong Ling Ching 21-14, 20-22, 21-19.
Since both of their matches finished in the morning (IST), Ayush and Unnati are set to play their Round of 16 games in the evening, meaning that the two ace shuttlers will need to recover quickly before their respective pre-quarterfinal games.
Ayush, ranked World No. 20, was completely in control throughout the match against Tajibullayev, giving the Kazakh shuttler no chance to gain momentum. The victory in the straight game allowed him to save his energy for his next match against Chou Tien-Chen from Chinese Taipei.
In their past encounters, Ayush trails Chou 1-2.
At the same time, Unnati had to face a far more difficult match against world No. 38 Wong. The 25th-seeded Indian won the first game 21-14, but Wong then fought back to win the second 22-20 and thus forced a third game.
The third game was closely fought, and neither of the shuttlers could gain a substantial advantage. Unnati eventually took it to 20-18 and thus created two match points; Wong saved the first one, but on the next rally a cross-court shot went wide, which allowed the Indian to win the match.
Their next opponent will be Indonesia’s world No. 6 Putri Kusuma Wardani, who beat Unnati in their only previous encounter at the 2025 Hylo Open.
Amid the tough timetable, India’s singles campaign has already encountered a setback after Lakshya Sen was knocked out in the second round by Loh Kean Yew, former world champion of Singapore.
The 13th ranked shuttler overcame an early difficulty to win against world No. 14 Sen with scores of 21-12, 15-21, 21-14 in a match lasting one hour and 10 minutes.
Sen had reached a 5-1 lead in the first game, but Loh replied with ten consecutive points to gain control and finished the game 21-12.
In the second game, the Indian responded vigorously by increasing his attacking intensity and thus levelled the score at 1-1 after securing a 21-15 victory.
