Badminton, Japan Open Super 500: Sathish Kumar advances; Kiran George exits in first round

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.

DAIHATSU Japan Open 2024
MS - R32
6 ????????Sathish Kumar KARUNAKARAN????
1 ????????Anders ANTONSEN

???? in 3 minutes— BWFScore (@BWFScore) August 21, 2024

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...

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