North Harbour, then Bendigo, and now Sydney. The Oceania circuit has barely paused for breath, and on Day 2 at the ROKETTO Badminton Centre in Lidcombe, the players who made the noise in the first two weeks kept making it at the ROKETTO Sydney International 2026.
Dhand sets the tone
Reigning Oceania men’s singles champion Shrey Dhand arrived in Sydney with a point to prove. In Bendigo he admitted that he tends to ease off in the second game after winning the first. Tenth seed Dhand needed just 17 minutes to defeat fellow Australian Michael Su 21-7, 21-7, and the second game was every bit as dominant as the first.
Richardson topples a seed
Ken Richardson has spoken about using his fitness to wear opponents down, and against India’s fourth seed Alap Mishra it paid off. He won 21-17, 21-19 in 42 minutes, the result of the day in the men’s singles.
Thirteenth seed Muhammad Rafi Zafran Ferary also moved into the round of 16 after fellow Australian Emmanuel Stephen Sam retired in the second. Kai Chen Teoh defeated India’s Irvin Arokia Walter 21-18, 21-12 in 39 minutes.
For the rest of our men in the singles, the seeds were too strong. Asher Jing Jie Ooi lost to second seed and last week’s champion Liao Jhuo-Fu, Kong Teck Joon lost to sixth seed Ting Yen-Chen, and Evan Ji lost to eighth seed Lau Jun Hui Marcus. Dylan Chan lost to twelfth seed Huang Yu, and New Zealand’s Dylan Soedjasa lost 21-13, 21-14 to eleventh seed Samuel Lee.
The Bendigo semi-finalists carry on
The men’s doubles was where Oceania’s pairs did their best work, and the names will be familiar.
Michael Owen and Jack Yu, who reached the semi-finals in Bendigo, came from a game down to defeat New Zealand’s Jonathan Curtin and Daniel McMillan 16-21, 21-13, 21-11. Keith Mark Edison (AUS) and Samuel Lee (MAS), the other Bendigo semi-finalists, won an all-Oceania match against Allen Fang and Michael Su 21-17, 22-24, 21-8.
Another Bendigo quarter-finalist pair, New Zealand’s Raphael Deloy/Soedjasa, had the day’s most comfortable win, 21-14, 21-8 over Bosco Lap-Chi Kwok/Nick So. Rio Agustino/Timotius Elbert defeated Chung Li Eric Choo/Richardson 21-13, 21-17, and Raphael Lydra/Nicholas Tran Quan Pham, and Phillip Halim/Landon Hosea Kurniawan, also moved through.
The biggest game of the doubles came on Court 2. Rizky Hidayat/Pramudya Kusumawardana lost the first game 27-29 to Chiang Tzu Chieh/Lu Chen, the pair Owen and Yu needed a 24-22 third game to get past in Bendigo, then won 21-17, 21-17. The 1 hour 7 minute match was the longest of the day.
Gao leads the women through
On the women’s side, eighth seed Rui Gao, who reached the Bendigo quarter-finals, moved into the round of 16 with a 21-10, 21-18 win over India’s Shruti Mundada. Alphonsa Bijomon joined her after a 21-12, 21-18 win over fellow Australian Isabelle Kingsley, so at least one Oceania player is guaranteed a place in the next round.
In the women’s doubles, Priska Kustiadi and Maureen Clarissa Wijaya came from a game down to defeat Sreeyuktha Sreejith Parol and Nayonika Rajesh 21-16, 11-21, 21-16 in 56 minutes. Jing Yun Chiu and Sydney Tjonadi defeated fellow Australians Jesamine Donald and Thamolwan Poopradubsil 21-18, 21-8. The trans-Tasman pairing of Angela Yu and Camellia Zhou, who reached the Bendigo quarter-finals in their first tournament together, lost 21-19, 21-9 to Chinese Taipei’s Yun Chiao Su and Shu-Yu Wen.
The rest of the women’s singles was a hard day. Bernice Teoh lost 21-5, 21-8 to sixth seed Niina Matsuta (JPN), Nicole Fang lost to top seed Tung Ciou-Tong (TPE), Mimi Ngo lost to second seed Chen Su Yu (TPE), and Hao (Angela) Shen lost to third seed Liao Jui-Chi. Amy Qin and Tianna George also exited the competition.
Next up: the mixed doubles
The mixed doubles round of 16 is on Day 3, and the Bendigo and North Harbour champions, top seeds Andika Ramadiansyah and Nozomi Shimizu, are slated to face the runner ups from last week – Lin Bing-Wei/Lin Yen Yu (TPE).
