Newly-crowned Indonesia Masters champion Kiran George fails to enter main draw of Hong Kong Open

George was shown the door by Malaysia’s Jun Hao Leong 20-22, 21-14, 14-21 in the second round of qualification.

File Photo: Kerala’s Kiran George in action during the men’s singles semifinal against M. Mithun in the Yonex-Sunrise Mathrubhumi senior National-ranking badminton tournament in Kozhikode on April 20, 2019. | Photo Credit: The Hindu

India’s Kiran George, who won the Indonesia Masters title last weekend, failed to keep the momentum going as he could not make the main draw, bowing out in the men’s singles qualification round of the Hong Kong Open here on Tuesday.

George was shown the door by Malaysia’s Jun Hao Leong 20-22, 21-14, 14-21 in the second round of qualification. The Indian had earlier defeated Chinese Taipei’s Yu Jen Chi 21-15, 21-17 in the opening round of the qualifiers.

Mithun Manjunath and Ravi also bowed out in the qualifiers of the men’s singles. Both the players lost to Hong Kong’s Jason Gunawan.

While Manjunath lost 20-22, 15-21 to Gunawan in the opening round, Ravi was shown the door 15-21, 14-21 in the second round by the local shuttler.

In women’s singles, Malvika Bansod progressed to the main draw after her Thai opponent Pitchamon Opatniputh retired midway due to an injury while leading 14-21, 10-11.

The Indian women’s doubles pair of Treesa Jolly and Pullela Gayatri Gopichand entered the second round of the main draw after beating the Dutch combination of Debora Jille and Cheryl Seinen 21-15, 16-21, 21-16 in the opening round.

The other Indian women’s doubles duo of Tanisha Crasto and Ashwini Ponnappa will take on Chinese Taipei’s Chia Hsin Lee and Chun Hsun Teng in the opening round after qualifying for the main draw following a 21-16, 21-14 win over compatriots N Sikki Reddy and Arathi Sara Sunil.