India’s Kiran George and Lakshya Sen booked their spots in the quarterfinals of the Thailand Open, a BWF World Tour Super 500 tournament, in Bangkok on Thursday.
George brushed aside the Malaysia Masters runner-up Weng Hong Yang with the score of 21-11, 21-19. The Chinese shuttler had defeated Kidambi Srikanth in the first round.
Odisha Open champion George will next face Frenchman Toma Junior Popov in the quarterfinals on Friday.
Commonwealth Games gold medallist Lakshya Sen reached the quarterfinals of an event for only the second time this year after beating China’s Li Shi Feng, fourth seed, 21-17, 21-15 in 49 minutes. Lakshya takes on Malaysian qualifier Leong Jun Hao in the last-eight round.
In men’s doubles, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty went down 26-24, 11-21, 17-21 against Bagas Maulana and Muhammad Shohibul Fikri of Indonesia in the pre-quarterfinals.
In women’s singles, Saina Nehwal and Ashmita Chaliha both lost their matches in straight games. While Spain’s Carolina Marin beat qualifier Chaliha 21-8, 21-13, Nehwal suffered a 11-21, 14-21 defeat against China’s He Bing Jiao.
