India’s Sathish Kumar Karunakaran advanced to the second round of men’s singles at the 2024 Japan Open Super 500 in Yokohama Kanagawa on Wednesday.
The 23-year-old from Chennai moved on after his third seeded opponent Anders Antonsen withdrew midway from the contest. Kumar was leading 6-1 in the opening game when the Danish shuttler pulled out.
Meanwhile, Kiran George suffered a tough 19-21, 14-21 loss to a higher ranked Kanta Tsuneyama of Japan.
Kiran led 19-16 in the opening game before the Tsuneyama raced away to pocket the first game 21-19, winning five points in a row. The 24-year-old Indian never recovered as he went down in 51 minutes.
Among the other Indians in action, the mixed doubles pair of Sikki Reddy and B Sumeeth Reddy retired just two minutes into the match, handing their opponents from Demark a spot in the Round of 16. The Indian pair were trailing 1-3 in the first game when they pulled out.
Elsewhere, the women’s doubles pair of Rutaparna Panda and Swetaparna Panda went down 8-21, 14-21 to Denmark’s Julie Finne-Ipsen and Mai Surrow in 34 minutes.
These results mean that Kumar is the only surviving Indian in the pre-quarterfinals of the 2024 Japan Open. He will go up against Thailand’s Kantaphon Wangcharoen on Thursday.
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