Thailand Open | Kiran George stuns world no. 9 Shi Yuqi, Saina Nehwal surprises with dominant performance
In what can be called a mixed day in the office for Indian shuttlers, the likes of Kiran George and Saina Nehwal notched up great wins, but Kidambi Srikanth and Priyanshu Rajawat lost their opening matches. In a major upset, George beat world no. 9 Chinese player Shi Yuqi 21-18, 22-20.
Ranked 50 places below the Chinese, the world no. 59 Indian displayed great composure to get past his opponent in straight games and cause an upset. With this, he entered the round of 32 in the tournament. Other men's singles players, Kidambi Srikanth, and B Sai Praneeth lost their matches.
Srikanth was up against Weng HY of China and lost 8-21, 21-16, 14-21, and Praneeth lost to Christo Popov 14-21, 16-21. In the women's singles, Nehwal won a spectacular match against Zhang WY of Canada 21-13, 21-7. Ashmita Chaliha also got a win easily, over compatriot Malvika Bansod 21-17, 21-14.
In a hard-fought match, Srikanth lost to the Chinese in three games with the score of 8-21, 21-16, 14-21. Meanwhile, a host of other Indians are yet to play their first-round matches. All eyes will be on Lakshya Sen, who faces Weng TW, and PV Sindhu, who will be up against Michelle Li of Canada.