Badminton News: Indian qualifier Kiran George's dream ended in the quarterfinals when he lost to world champion Kunlavut Vitidsarn of Thailand at the Indonesia Masters in Jakarta on Friday evening (26/1).

The Indian world number 36 lost two easy matches 14-21 and 6-21 against the world number 9 in a battle that lasted 43 minutes.

With this, the Indian badminton team's participation in the BWF World Tour Super 500 tournament has come to an end.

World No. 19 Lakshya Sen and Priyanshu Rajawat, ranked 30th, each lost in the pre-quarterfinals on Thursday.

World number 7 HS Prannoy, who is India's best player, was knocked out in the first round by Singapore's Kean Yew Loh.

India's top men's doubles duo Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty have bowed out of the tournament after reaching back-to-back finals in their last two tournaments.

Kiran George, who eliminated China's Lu Guang Zu in the first rounds on Thursday, found himself trailing 3-0 and saw the gap widen to 4-8. However, he managed to score three points in a row to make the score 8-11 at the mid-match break.

However, the Thai shuttler stepped up his game to win four points in a row before winning the opener.

Kunlavut Vitidsarn was merciless in the second game, scoring 11 consecutive points either side of the break, giving them an 18-5 lead. It then became a formality for Vitidsarn to close the semi-final against the Dane Anders Antonsen.

For the 2023 world champion, this is indeed his first victory against Kiran at the senior level. Kiran George beat Vitidsarn at the Malaysia International Series in 2017. The Thai badminton player beat Kiran at the U-17 level in 2016.

Article Tag: Kiran George, Kunlavut Vitidsarn, Indonesia Masters 2024