Facing malaysia

Markham Pan Am Centre: India's campaign at the Canada Open 2026 endured a difficult opening day as seven of the nine singles players crashed out in the first round, with former world No. 1 Kidambi Srikanth's run ending prematurely due to injury at the Markham Pan Am Centre on Thursday.

Facing Malaysia's Lee Zii Jia in one of the marquee men's singles contests, Srikanth was forced to retire while trailing 11-10 in the opening game, bringing an abrupt end to a contest that had promised to be closely fought. The setback came just a week after the Indian had defeated Lee en route to finishing runner-up at the US Open. The result also extended Lee's head-to-head advantage to 6-3 over Srikanth.

India's hopes in the men's singles draw quickly faded after Srikanth's exit, with Saneeth Dayanand and Sankar Subramanian also bowing out in their opening-round matches.