Badminton
Japan Open: Sathish Kumar moves to 2nd round, Kiran George bows out
Sathish advanced to the second round after his opponent the World No. 3 Anders Antonsen decided to pull out due to an injury.
Sathish Kumar Karunakaran advanced to the second round of Japan Open 750.
Indian shuttler Sathish Kumar Karunakaran advanced to the second round of the Japan Open Super 750 at the Yokohama Arena on Tuesday.
Sathish was leading the first game 6-1 when his opponent the World No. 3 Anders Antonsen decided to pull out due to an injury.
Meanwhile, the Indian mixed doubles pairing of N Sikki Reddy and B. Sumeeth Reddy bowed out due to an injury during the first game of the match against the Danish pair Amalie Magelund and Jesper Toft.
Kiran George, the other Indian men's singles player in the fray, was no match against Japan's Kanta Tsuneyama. George suffered a 19-21,14-21 defeat in the first round.
In the first game, George conceded a 19-16 lead as Kanta won five straight points to claim the game. The Japanese shuttler claimed the second game quite comfortably.
In women's doubles, Panda sisters - Rutuparna and Swetaparna - went down 8-21, 14-21 against Julie Finne-Ipsen and Mai Surrow of Denmark in their opening-round clash.
