2023 Thailand Open | Sameer Verma, Kiran George and Ashmita Chaliha enter main draw
Indian shuttlers Sameer Verma, Kiran George, and Ashmita Chaliha made it to the main draw of the Thailand Open Super 500 tournament after notching straight game wins on Tuesday. Former world no. 11 Verma, who won the Slovenia Open recently, beat Malaysia’s Yeoh Seng Zoe 21-12, 21-17.
Prior to this, he got walkovers from Indonesia’s Christian Adinata and Spain’s Luis Enrique Penalver. He will now face Denmark’s Magnus Johannesen in the opening round of the main draw. On the other hand, George, the winner of the 2022 Odisha Open, beat Kartikey Gulshan Kumar 21-14, 21-18 and Korea’s Jeon Hyeok Jin 21-10, 21-14 to make it to the main draw.
He will open his campaign against third seed Chinese Shi Yuqi on Wednesday. In the women's singles section, Chaliha beat Unnati Hooda 21-16, 13-21, 21-19, and Estonian Kristin Kuuba 21-19, 21-11, to make the main draw. She will be up against Malvika Bansod in the first round.
B Sai Praneeth and Manjunath also made it to the main draw, and will face France’s Christo Popov and Thailand’s second seed Kunlavut Vitidsarn, respectively.