Swiss Open: Tharun Mannepalli advances; Kiran George, Malvika Bansod exit

NEW DELHI: India had mixed results at the Swiss Open badminton tournament, with some players advancing while others were knocked out. Kiran George fought hard in the men’s singles pre-quarterfinals but eventually lost to Hong Kong’s Jason Gunawan 18-21, 21-16, 16-21 in a closely contested 70-minute match.In contrast, young Indian shuttler Tharun Mannepalli progressed to the second round after Japan’s Kenta Nishimoto retired from their match due to a shoulder injury. Mannepalli, ranked 43rd in the world, was trailing in the opening game but bounced back strongly. He was ahead 16-21, 21-16, 7-2 in the deciding game when Nishimoto pulled out of the contest on Wednesday night. The 24-year-old, who had earlier reached the Macau Open semifinals, will next face Malaysia’s Justin Hoh.

India also faced disappointment in the men’s doubles event. The pair of Hariharan Amsakarunan and M.R. Arjun exited in the pre-quarterfinals after losing to Chen Cheng Kuan and Lin Bing-Wei of Chinese Taipei 17-21, 11-21 in just 32 minutes.Meanwhile, India’s top men’s doubles pair Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty were scheduled to play their pre-quarterfinal match later against Japan’s Hiroki Okamura and Kyohei Yamashita.

In the women’s singles, Malvika Bansod also crashed out after losing to Thailand’s world No. 4 Pornpawee Chochuwong. Bansod struggled to match the Thai star and went down 11-21, 15-21 in a one-sided match. It was her fourth straight defeat against Chochuwong.