Thailand Open: Kiran George upsets World No 9 Shi Yu qi to enter pre-quarters

Bangkok, May 31 India's Kiran George defeated World No. 9 China's Shi Yu qi in straight games in the Round of 32 clash to enter pre-quarters at the Thailand Open 2023 badminton tournament, here on Wednesday.

Odisha Open 2022 Champion Kiran registered an impressive 21-18, 22-20 win over 2018 World Championships Silver medallist.

Earlier, Ashmita Chaliha and Malvika Bansod made the women's singles main draw at the tournament. Ashmita beat compatriot Unnati Hooda 21-16, 13-21, 21-19 in her first qualifier and then knocked out Kristin Kuuba of Estonia to seal a berth in the main draw.

The 23-year-old Ashmita will next face compatriot Malvika Bansod, who was scheduled to play in the qualifiers initially but got a direct entry into the main draw.

Meanwhile, in the men's singles qualifiers, Sameer Verma defeated Yeoh Seng Zoe of Malaysia 21-12, 21-17 to progress to the main draw after receiving walkovers against Indonesia's Christian Adinata and Spain's Luis Enrique Penalver in the opening couple of rounds. The 28-year-old will face Magnus Johannesen of Denmark in round 1 of the main draw.

B Sai Praneeth and Mithun Manjunath, who were scheduled to play in the qualifiers, were handed direct entry into the men's singles main draw, where they will join compatriots Kidambi Srikanth and Lakshya Sen.

In the women's doubles qualifiers, the Indian pair of Palak Arora and Unnati Hooda were ousted in the first round.

Indian top shuttlers PV Sindhu and Saina Nehwal will also be in action in the main draw of the Bangkok meet, later in the day.

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