India’s campaign at the Canada Open 2026 came to a close after Aakarshi Kashyap and Tanya Hemanth bowed out in the second round of the women’s singles competition at the BWF Super 300 tournament in Markham, Ontario.

World No. 71 Aakarshi Kashyap produced a determined performance against fourth seed and world No. 33 Beiwen Zhang of the United States before suffering a 20-22, 21-17, 21-17 defeat in a hard-fought encounter that lasted one hour and seven minutes.

Aakarshi made an impressive start, racing to a 10-6 advantage in the opening game. Zhang, however, clawed her way back to draw level before narrowly taking the first game after an intense battle. The Indian continued to challenge her higher-ranked opponent throughout the contest but was unable to convert crucial opportunities at decisive stages.

In the second game, Zhang established an early lead before Aakarshi launched a spirited comeback to reduce the margin. Despite her efforts, the American maintained control to clinch the game and force a decider. The third game remained evenly balanced until the score was locked at 17-17, but Zhang finished strongly by claiming the final four points to wrap up the victory. The result marked Aakarshi’s third defeat in three meetings against Zhang.

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In the other women’s singles second-round fixture, world No. 56 Tanya Hemanth suffered a straight-games loss to Japan’s third seed and world No. 21 Riko Gunji, who cruised to a 21-11, 21-11 win in just 31 minutes. It was Tanya’s second consecutive defeat to Gunji after the Japanese player had also knocked her out in the opening round of last week’s US Open. Aakarshi and Tanya were India’s last remaining competitors in the tournament after the rest of the contingent had already exited in the earlier rounds.

Former world No. 1 Kidambi Srikanth was forced to retire due to injury during his match against Malaysia’s Olympic medallist Lee Zii Jia. Meanwhile, Devika Sihag, Rakshitha Ramraj, Anmol Kharb, Shriyanshi Valishetty, Saneeth Dayanand and Sankar Subramanian were all eliminated in the opening rounds.
India’s campaign in the doubles events had also ended on the first day of the tournament, with Achutaditya Rao Doddavarapu and Arjun Reddy Pochana crashing out in the opening round. The Indian shuttlers will next compete at the Japan Open 750, which is scheduled to get underway on July 14.