Kumamoto Masters: Srikanth stuns Kodai Naraoka, Lakshya Sen into quarter-finals

Kidambi Srikanth and Lakshya Sen reached the men's singles quarter-finals of the Kumamoto Masters Japan 2026, a BWF World Tour Super 500 badminton tournament in Kumamoto, on Thursday, 12 November 2026. Srikanth beat Japan's Kodai Naraoka, the fifth seed, 21-15, 11-21, 21-18 in a match of about an hour, his first win over Naraoka in five meetings. Lakshya Sen beat China's Dong Tianyao 21-8, 21-14. Both Indians play their quarter-finals against Japanese opponents on Friday, 13 November.

For Indian badminton, two men in the last eight of a Super 500 event is a useful return in the closing weeks of the international season. The BWF World Tour is graded by level, and Super 500 events sit in the middle of the ladder, above the Super 300 and Super 100 tournaments and below the Super 750 and Super 1000 events. They carry ranking points and prize money that matter to players trying to move up the world list.

Srikanth's win is the bigger surprise of the day. Naraoka was a seeded player in front of a home crowd. Srikanth had never beaten him in four earlier matches. He took the first game, lost the second heavily and then held his nerve in a close third game to finish 21-18. Beating a top-ten player away from home is the kind of result that can lift a player's confidence and his ranking at the same time.

Lakshya Sen's match went the other way: a quick, one-sided win. After a tight opening round against Chi Yu Jen, which he won in two close games, he gave Dong Tianyao few chances. As the eighth seed, Lakshya was expected to reach the quarter-finals, and he did so without dropping a game in two matches.

The draw now sets up two India-versus-Japan quarter-finals on the same day. Japanese players have home support in Kumamoto, so Friday's matches will test both Indians in front of crowds backing their opponents.

Peepals calculation: Srikanth won against Naraoka while scoring fewer total points. Adding the three games, Srikanth scored 53 points (21 + 11 + 21) and Naraoka 54 (15 + 21 + 18), so the match was decided by how the points fell within each game, not by total points. Lakshya Sen, by contrast, scored 42 points (21 + 21) to Dong Tianyao's 22 (8 + 14), so his opponent won about 34% of the points played (22 out of 64). Our calculation from the reported figures.

Short-term: A win on Friday would put either player into the semi-finals, and India could still have two men in the last four.

Long-term: For Srikanth, a deep run at a Super 500 event, built on a win over a top-ten opponent, would add ranking points at the end of the season. For Lakshya Sen, deep runs at events like this one keep him among the higher-ranked players as the season winds down and the next year's schedule approaches.

Who is affected: Kidambi Srikanth and Lakshya Sen and their coaching teams; Indian badminton fans following the season's final tournaments; the Badminton Association of India, which tracks how its players perform on the world tour; and Japan's Koki Watanabe and Yushi Tanaka, who now face Indian opponents at home.

What to watch next: The quarter-finals on Friday, 13 November 2026, with Srikanth against Koki Watanabe and Lakshya Sen against Yushi Tanaka.

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