Tokyo, July 17 -- Two-time Olympic medallist PV Sindhu advanced to the semi-finals of the Japan Open 2026 badminton tournament after Japan's former world champion Nozomi Okuhara withdrew from their match, handing the Indian shuttler a walkover, according to Olympics.com.

The quarter-final contest at the Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium was called off before play began. Okuhara, currently ranked world No. 11, had reached the last eight after top seed An Se-young of the Republic of Korea withdrew from her round-of-16 match.

Ranked world No. 10, Sindhu will next take on world No. 4 Chen Yufei of China, the Tokyo 2020 Olympic gold medallist, in the women's singles semi-finals.

Sindhu booked her place in the final eight after defeating world No...