Defending women’s singles champion Ratchanok Intanon will begin her title defence at the US$500,000 BWF Kumamoto Masters Japan 2026 on Wednesday.
The Thai fourth seed will meet Nodoka Sunakawa of Japan in the first round of the Super 500 event at Kumamoto Prefectural Gymnasium.
Ratchanok defeated Indonesia’s Gregoria Mariska Tunjung to win the title last year.
Fellow Thais Pornpawee Chochuwong and Supanida Katethong will also play their first-round matches on Wednesday.
Sixth seed Pornpawee will play Wong Ling Chiang of Malaysia, while Supanida will take on Huang Yu-hsun of Taiwan.
In the men’s singles event, second seed Kunlavut Vitidsarn will take on Magnus Johannesen of Denmark, while Panitchaphon Teeraratsakul will meet defending champion and fifth seed Kodai Naraoka of Japan.
Kunlavut withdrew before the competition began last year.
Meanwhile, mixed doubles defending champions Dechapol Puavaranukroh and Supissara Paewsampran will play Yu Zhirui Jerry and Tse Ying Suet of Hong Kong in their opening match.
In Tuesday’s action, the second-seeded men’s doubles pair Peeratchai Sukphun and Pakkapon Teeraratsakul won their opening match against He Zhi-wei and Huang Jui-hsuan of Taiwan 21-11, 25-23.
The women’s doubles pair of Ornnicha Jongsathapornparn and Sabrina Sophita Wedler also progressed, defeating Japanese home favourites Arisa Igarashi and Yumi Tanabe 21-11, 21-16.