Indonesia Masters: Kiran George defeats home favourite, reaches final

Indian shuttler Kiran George defeated home favourite Tommy Sugiarto to reach the final of the ongoing Indonesia Masters Super 100 tournament on Saturday.

The 22-year-old shuttler defeated veteran Tommy Sugiarto in a 51-minute match to reach his first final of the year. He won 23-21, 16-21, 21-8.

World number 50 Kiran will take on Japanese shuttler Koo Takahashi in the final tomorrow.

Earlier on Friday, Kiran George defeated Panitchaphon Terraratsakul of Thailand 21-9, 21-19 in the quarterfinal.

Kiran had a deep run in the Thailand Open Super 500 tournament earlier in the year defeating higher-ranked players like Shi Yu Qi and Weng Hong Yang. Apart from that, Kiran is having an underwhelming season and will look to win his first title of the year.

In the women's doubles semi-final, the Indian pair of Tanisha Crasto and Ashwini Ponappa lost to the top-seeded Indonesian pair of Lanny Tria Mayasari and Ribka Sugiarto.

The Indian pair won the first game 22-20 but lost the next two games 16-21 and 13-21 to crash out of the tournament.

Seventh-seeded in the tournament, Ashwini/Tanisha defeated third-seeded Indonesian pair Meilysa Trias and Rachel Allessya 14-21, 21-17, 21-11 in quarter-finals earlier on Friday.

In mixed doubles, Tanisha Crasto along with Sai Pratheek lost in the quarter-final to Wu Hsuan-Yi and Yang Chun Yun of Chinese Taipei. Mansi Singh was India's best performer in women's singles as she crashed out in the quarter-final after losing to Chiu Pin-Chian of Chinese Taipei.