3 min learnUp to date: Mar 12, 2026 12:25 AM IST
Having slipped exterior the highest 40 and never been in good type for the reason that begin of the 2026 season, Kiran George produced his finest consequence shortly as he shocked former world champion Loh Kean Yew in straight video games on the Swiss Open Tremendous 300 in Basel on Wednesday. It was one in every of two upsets attributable to Indian shuttlers within the opening spherical because the combined doubles duo of Tanisha Crasto-Dhruv Kapila knocked out Danish fourth seeds Jesper Toft and Amalie Magelund.
George, ranked forty second on the planet, was concerned in two tight video games and prevailed 23-21, 21-19 in a 41-minute match. Within the opening sport, the unseeded Indian had saved two sport factors, whereas within the second, the Singaporean third seed almost accomplished an excellent comeback from 16-20 down earlier than George sealed the competition along with his fourth match level. He’ll subsequent face Hong Kong’s Jason Gunawan, who knocked out former world no. 1 Kidambi Srikanth, in three video games 21-15, 12-21, 4-21.
Tanisha-Dhruv additionally clinched a formidable 21-15, 21-14 win over the Thirteenth-ranked pair, who’re seven locations forward of the Indians. The duo will face China’s Gao Jia Xuan and Wu Meng Ying subsequent.
Others wrestle
It was, in any other case, a forgettable day for Indian shuttlers with a number of children shedding their matches. Persevering with what’s been a lukewarm begin to his season, Ayush Shetty misplaced 18-21, 19-21 to Canada’s Brian Yang, squandering the prospect to at the least drive a decider from a 19-17 lead in Sport 2. In girls’s singles, teenager Tanvi Sharma misplaced towards prime seed Putri Kusuma Wardani of Indonesia 21-11, 21-10. Chinese language Taipei’s Chiu Pin-Chian defeated one other Indian teenager, Unnati Hooda, 21-14, 21-14 within the girls’s singles.
India additionally suffered a setback after HS Prannoy, the 2023 World Championships bronze medallist, gave a walkover to Japan’s Koki Watanabe. Late on Tuesday, world No. 4 males’s doubles pair Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty superior to the spherical of 16 with a 21-19, 21-19 win over Singapore’s Eng Keat Wesley Koh and Junsuke Kubo.
H Amsakarunan and M R Arjun additionally progressed with a 21-16, 24-22 win over Chinese language Taipei’s Chen Zhi Ray and Lin Yu Chieh. In girls’s doubles, Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand misplaced towards Hu Ling Fang and Jheng Yu Chieh, retiring mid-match within the opening sport when trailing 7-13, with the previous unable to proceed.
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