Thailand Open 2023: Lakshya Sen reaches semifinal; Kiran George’s fairytale run ends

The Indian shuttler Sen defeated Leong Jun Hao of Malaysia in straight games by a scoreline of 21-19, 21-11 in the quarterfinal match that lasted for 41 minutes on Court 3.

The 21-year-old shuttler from Almora will next face the winner of the quarterfinal between Lu Guang Zu of China and Kunlavut Vitidsarn of Thailand in the last four match on Saturday (June 3).

While Sen progressed and is the only Indian alive in the ongoing event, his compatriot Kiran George’s fairytale run in the men’s singles category at the BWF World Tour Super 500 tournament came to an end on Friday (June 2).

George, who was playing in his first Super 500 event, suffered a straight games defeat to Toma Junior Popov of France. The Indian went down fighting 16-21, 17-21 to the French shuttler in the last 8 match that lasted for 41 minutes.

The Kochi-born shuttler had registered impressive wins before being knocked out in the quarterfinal. He had upset top ranked opponents to reach the last eight of the tournament.

George had registered the biggest win of his career, defeating China’s world No. 9 Yu Qi in straight games to advance to the second round, where he got the better of Malaysia Masters runner up Weng Hong Yang also in straight games.

Earlier on Thursday (June 1), Saina Nehwal as well as top doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty bowed out of the tournament following second round defeats, while PV Sindhu and Kidambi Srikanth bowed out in the opening round.

While Satwik-Chirag Pair lost to Indonesian pair Muhammad Shohibul Fikri and Bagas Maulana by a scoreline of 26-24, 11-21, 17-21, Nehwal suffered straight games loss to third seed He Bing Jiao of China by a scoreline of 11-21, 14-21.

On Wednesday (May 31), two-time Olympic medallist Sindhu was outplayed by Canada’s Michelle Li 8-21, 21-18, 18-21, while Srikanth lost to Weng by a scoreline of 8-21, 21-16, 14-21.