India’s Krishna Prasad Garaga and Pruthvi Krishnamurthy Roy pulled off the biggest upset of the opening day at the Korea Masters 2026, defeating the top-seeded Thai pair of Chaloempon Charoenkitamorn and Worrapol Thongsa-Nga to advance to the second round of the men’s doubles competition.
Competing at the BWF World Tour Super 300 event, the unseeded Indian duo produced an assured performance to register a 21-16, 21-18 victory in 42 minutes. They will now await the winners of their second-round matchup.
The Korea Masters, being held from August 4 to 9, serves as an important tournament for Indian shuttlers ahead of the BWF World Championships in New Delhi later this month.
Mixed fortunes for Indian contingent on opening day
India endured a mixed start elsewhere in the competition. Achutaditya Rao Doddavarapu and Arjun Reddy Pochana were knocked out in the men’s doubles first round after losing 3-21, 10-21 to Korea’s Choi Sol Gyu and Malaysia’s Goh V Shem.
In the women’s doubles, Priya Konjengbam and Shruti Mishra also bowed out after suffering a 15-21, 13-21 defeat against Japan’s second-seeded pair of Ririna Hiramoto and Kokona Ishikawa.
In the men’s singles qualifiers, Tushar Suveer began with a convincing 21-15, 21-12 win over Canada’s Shaurya Gullaiya but failed to progress to the main draw after going down 10-21, 17-21 to Japan’s Shogo Ogawa in the next qualifying round.
India has fielded a 33-member contingent across all five disciplines at the tournament.
Several of the country’s top players will begin their campaigns on Wednesday, including reigning Taipei Open champion Tanvi Sharma, former world No. 1 Kidambi Srikanth, Kiran George, Anmol Kharb, Malvika Bansod, Aakarshi Kashyap and Tanya Hemanth.
Ashmita Chaliha will face compatriot Rakshitha Sree Santhosh Ramraj in an all-Indian women’s singles first-round clash, while Isharani Baruah takes on Korea’s Lee So Yul.
