Thailand Open 2023 Badminton: India's Kiran George cruises into the quarterfinals

India's Kiran George continued his impressive run to storm into the men's singles quarterfinals of the Thailand Open 2023 Badminton Super 500 tournament with a straight game win over world No. 26 Weng Hong Yang of China here on Thursday.

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World number 59 Kiran beat her higher-ranked Chinese 21-11, 21-19 in 39 minutes in the Thailand Open 2023 Badminton pre-quarterfinals. Kiran has reached the quarterfinals of a BWF World Tour Super 500 event for the first time. Odisha Open 2022 winner will take on the winner of the match between Ng Ka Long Angus of Hong Kong and Toma Junior Popov of France in the last eight on Friday.

The Indian took the lead in the first game by going from 12-10 to 21-11 on a fantastic run of points. He trailed 10-11 at the half of the second game, a topsy-turvy battle. But, after the break, he built a 15-12 lead before Weng rallied to reduce the margin to 16-16. George moved ahead from 19-19 to win the match in 39 minutes. On Wednesday, George registered the biggest match of his career, defeating China's world No. 9 Yu Qi in straight games.

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However, in women's singles, Ashmita Chaliha went down 18-21 13-21 to three-time world champion Carolina Marin of Spain. Later in the day, Saina Nehwal, Lakshya Sen, and the men's doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty will play their respective Thailand Open 2023 Badminton pre-quarterfinals.

The BWF World Tour is divided into six levels. These include World Tour Finals, four Super 1000, six Super 750, seven Super 500, and 11 Super 300 in order. One other category of tournament, the BWF Tour Super 100 level, also offers ranking points. The Super 500 is a Grade 2 (level 4) event in the BWF tournament ranking system.