Putri Feels Nervous Ahead of the 2026 Malaysia Open

JAKARTA – Women's singles badminton player Putri Kusuma Wardani admitted she was nervous ahead of competing in the 2026 BWF Super 1000 Malaysia Open, which will take place this week.

This year's Malaysia Open will be held from January 6–11, 2026, at the Axiata Arena, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Putri is the only Indonesian women's singles representative in the tournament out of nine players.

"I'm quite nervous because I'm starting from scratch, but tomorrow is the opening match in Malaysia. I want to play well to kick off the year," said Putri.

The 23-year-old badminton player played her final tournament of the calendar year at the BWF World Tour Finals in Hangzhou, China.

Putri was eliminated in the group stage after only winning one of her three group stage matches. She was still unable to stop An Se-young and Akane Yamaguchi, whom she had never beaten.

After returning from China, the Tangerang-born badminton player immediately took a break to recover physically and mentally.

"My coach gave me a few days off, and thank God, I'm feeling refreshed. The ten days of preparation went quite well. In the first few days of training, I focused on improving my physical condition," said Putri.

Putri will begin her journey at the 2026 Malaysia Open against Manami Suizu, whom she previously defeated in their first competitive encounter at the 2024 Macau Open.

According to the draw, Putri is in a tough spot, alongside Wang Zhiyi and Akane Yamaguchi in the bottom half of the rankings. She could face Wang in the quarterfinals and Akane in the semifinals.