India’s Kiran George earned a hard-fought win to reach the men’s singles round of 16 at the Thailand Masters Super 300 badminton tournament in Bangkok on Wednesday.
The 22-year-old was forced to a decider, and he eventually prevailed 21-17, 19-21, 23-21 in an hour and three minutes against Lee Chia-hao from Chinese Taipei.
Kiran will now face Hong Kong’s Lee Cheukyiu, the third seed, in the round of 16.
Also reaching the round of 16 were B Sai Praneeth, Tanisha Crasto-Ishaan Bhatnagar, and N Sikki Reddy-Rohan Kapoor.
In the women’s singles round of 32,Ashmita Chaliha defeated Anupama Upadhyaya in an all-Indian battle.
Elsewhere in men’s singles, India’s Priyanshu Rajawat suffered a heartbreaking defeat in the round of 32. The 21-year squandered three match points and saved a few as well but eventually lost 21-14, 19-21, 25-27 in an hour and nine minutes against South Korea’s Heo Kwang-hee.
Also in men’s singles section, India’s Sameer Verma was defeated 21-14, 21-16 by sixth seed Li Shifeng from China in the round of 32. Mithun Manjunath lost 18-21, 12-21 to Japanese fifth seed Kenta Nishimoto.
In mixed doubles, Ashwini Ponnappa and Sumeeth Reddy went down 11-21, 17-21 against Indonesia’s Lisa Ayu Kusumawati and Rehan Naufal Kusharjanto in the round of 32.
Meanwhile, in the women’s doubles section, India’s Simran Singhi and Ritika Thaker lost 8-21, 10-21 in the round of 32 against Chinese sixth seeds Liu Shengshu and Zhang Shuxian.
Later in the day, there were wins for Sai Praneeth, Ishaan-Tanisha, Sikki-Rohan, and Chaliha.
Sai Praneeth, the 2019 World Championships bronze medallist who has been struggling for form internationally, came through against Mads Christophersen of Denmark 21-13, 21-14. He will face Jeon Hyeok Jin of Korea next.
Chaliha, the left-hander, came through in straight-games against Upadhyaya 21-16, 21-19 and will take on the Line Højmark Kjaersfeldt [6th seed] next.
Ishaan-Tanisha, seeded 8th, eased through 21-17, 21-5 against Thailand’s Ratchapol Makkasasithorn Chasinee Korepap. Sikki-Rohan defeated Ty Alexander Lindeman and Josephine Wu of Canada 21-11, 21-16.
Full results of the day and scheduled for round of 16 available here.
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