Lakshya Sen meets home player Koki Watanabe in the Kumamoto Masters final on Sunday

Lakshya Sen will meet Japan’s Koki Watanabe in the Kumamoto Masters final on Sunday, 15 November, the second match of the day on Court 1 at the Kumamoto Prefectural Gymnasium.

The Badminton World Federation’s order of play opens the last day with the mixed doubles title match at 11.00 am local time, which is 7.30 am in India. The men’s singles final follows, with an estimated start of 11.50 am, or 8.20 am IST. Each match on the court waits for the one before it to finish, so that time can shift.

One game dropped in four matches

Lakshya, the eighth seed, has given away a single game all week. He opened against Chi Yu Jen of Chinese Taipei with a 21-19, 21-18 win and then beat Dong Tian Yao comfortably, 21-8, 21-14. Japan’s Yushi Tanaka went out 21-16, 21-15 in the quarter-finals.

The semi-final on Saturday, 14 November, was his only three-game match. Sixth seed Alwi Farhan of Indonesia levelled the match by taking the second game, but Lakshya pulled away in the decider to win 21-12, 15-21, 21-11.

Watanabe clears two of the top three seeds

Watanabe is unseeded, yet he has knocked out two of the top three seeds on home soil. He beat third seed Chou Tien Chen 24-22, 21-19 in the second round and ended Kidambi Srikanth’s run 24-22, 21-15 in the quarter-finals.

His semi-final against second seed Kunlavut Vitidsarn of Thailand went the full distance. Watanabe lost the opening game 14-21, took the second 21-11 and edged a tight decider 23-21.

The Kumamoto event is a Super 500 tournament on the BWF World Tour, carrying total prize money of US$500,000. The 2025 men’s singles champion, Kodai Naraoka, will not defend the title: Srikanth beat him 21-15, 11-21, 21-18 in the second round.

After the men’s singles final, Court 1 hosts the men’s and women’s doubles finals, and the women’s singles final between top seed Akane Yamaguchi and second seed Wang Zhi Yi closes the programme, with an estimated start of 2.20 pm local time, or 10.50 am IST.