Japan Open 2024 badminton: Sathish Kumar Karunakaran advances; India’s doubles campaign ends

India’s Sathish Kumar Karunakaran advanced to the round of 16 of the Japan Open 2024 badminton tournament in Yokohama on Wednesday.

However, Kiran George lost his opening round in the men’s singles while two more doubles pairs were ousted as well, which left Sathish Kumar Karunakaran as the last Indian contender at the BWF Super 750 event.

The 23-year-old Sathish Kumar Karunakaran, who featured in the mixed doubles event on Tuesday, was drawn to play against world No. 3 Anders Antonsen of Denmark in men’s singles.

However, just a few points into the match, Antonsen was forced to retire due to an injury allowing Sathish to progress to the next round.

Earlier in the day, Kiran George, the other Indian badminton player in the men’s singles, lost to Japan’s Kanta Tsuneyama 21-19, 21-14 in 51 minutes.

Kiran George, 37th in the badminton rankings, started well and looked set to take a 1-0 lead in the match at 19-16. However, Tsuneyama, world No. 30, won five points in a row to stun the Indian and took the first game.

The second game turned out to be a close contest at 11-10. Tsuneyama found his rhythm and took a six-point lead at 18-12 before wrapping up the match in straight games.

In the mixed doubles, the Indian duo of B Sumeeth Reddy and N Sikki Reddy were forced to quit due to an injury midway through their match against Denmark’s Jesper Toft and Amalie Magelund.

In the women’s doubles, the pair of Rutuparna Panda and Swetaparna Panda too lost in the opening round. Denmark’s Julie Finne-Ipsen and Mai Surrow defeated the Indians 21-8, 21-14 in 34 minutes.

Sathish Kumar Karunakaran will play world No. 40 Kantaphon Wangcharoen of Thailand in the men’s singles round of 16 on Thursday.