KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 17 — National men’s singles shuttler Leong Jun Hao and women’s singles player K. Letshanaa made winning starts at the 2026 World Badminton Championships in New Delhi, India today.

Jun Hao, the world No. 27, defeated Brazil’s Jonathan Matias 21-19, 21-15, at the Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium, to set up a meeting against either eighth seed Li Shi Feng of China or Kazakhstan’s Dmitriy Panarin.

Letshanaa, meanwhile, secured a comfortable 21-11, 21-7 win over Uganda’s Fadilah Shamika Mohamed Rafi in 25 minutes.

However, a tough task awaits the world No. 31, as she is scheduled to face third-seed Wang Zhi Yi of China in the second round.

Earlier, national men’s doubles pair Wan Muhammad Arif Shaharuddin Wan Junaidi-Yap Roy King also lived up to expectations by clearing the opening hurdle after defeating Vietnam’s Nguyen Dinh Hoang-Tran Dinh Manh 21-9, 21-13.

Awaiting the national pair in the second round are 12th seeds Raymond Indra-Nikolaus Joaquin of Indonesia, who received a first-round bye.

Women’s doubles pair Ong Xin Yee-Carmen Ting also produced a positive surprise on their World Championships debut by comfortably defeating Ukraine’s Polina Buhrova-Yevheniia Kantemyr 21-17, 21-12.

They will next face second seeds Yuki Fukushima-Mayu Matsumoto of Japan in the second round. — Bernama