Indonesia Masters: Kiran George loses to world champion Kunlavut Vitidsarn

Indian representation at the Indonesia 2024 Super 500 tournament ended after Kiran George lost to reigning world champion Kunalvut Vitidsarn in the quarter-finals of men's singles on Friday.

The Indian world number 36 went down 14-21, 6-21 to the world number 9 in a battle lasting 43 minutes.

World number 19 Lakshya Sen and Priyanshu Rajawat, ranked 30th, had lost their respective pre-quarterfinals on Thursday. World number 7 HS Prannoy, who is the top-ranked Indian, had made an opening round exit going down to Loh Kean Yew of Singapore.

Kiran who made his way from the qualifier was on a dream defeating higher-ranked players Toma Popov Junior and Lu Guang Zu in the first two rounds.

It was always going to be tough for the Indian shuttlers and he started on the backfoot as Kunlavut raced to a lead of 4-8 in the opening exchanges. While Kiran tried to come back with three consecutive points, Kunalvut upped his game to win the first game 21-14.

Kunlavut was ruthless in the second game as he scored consecutive 11 points and never gave Kiran any chance to settle. Kiran gave up after the mid-game break conceding the game and match 21-6.

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