Loh Kean Yew (Photo by TanDavidPhotography)
India’s Kiran George produced one of biggest upsets at the Swiss Open badminton championships as he stunned former world champion Loh Kean Yew of Singapore the opening round.
The 42nd ranked shuttler edged out the third seeded Kean Yew 23-21, 21-19 after a 41-minute encounter.
In the opening game, Kiran saved two game points, while in the second, Kean Yer nearly completed a superb comeback from 16-20 down before Kiran sealed the contest on his fourth match point.
Kiran will take on Hong Kong’s Jason Gunawan, who knocked out former World No. 1 Kidambi Srikanth 21-15, 12-21, 4-21 in his match.
Second seeded Chou Tien Chen of Chinese Taipei was also given a rude awakening in the opening round, as he was shown the exit by China’s Wang Zhengxing. The Chinese player came back from a game down to defeat Tien Chen 14-21, 21-16, 21-10 in a match that lasted 64-minutes.
Top seeded Le Shifeng of China, was given a fright by unseeded Indonesian Moh Zaki Ubaidillah before slogging out a 84-minute 24-22, 16-21, 21-16 win.
Two players rebuilding their career after injuries – Lee Zii Jia of Malaysia and Anthony Sinisuka Ginting of Indonesia – had contrasting fortunes.
Zii Jia was beaten 12-21, 14-21 by Singapore’s Jason The Jia Heng while Anthony picked up a morale boosting 21-11, 21-17 win over Taiwanese veteran Wang Tzu Wei.
Fifth seeded Kenta Nishimoto of Japan had to withdraw injured from his match while trailing 21-16, 16-21, 2-7 to India’s Tharun Mannepalli.
Canadian Michelle Li, seeded fourth in the women’s singles was also shown an early exit. She lost her opening match 18-21, 16-21 to Japan’s Nozomi Okuhara.
Women’s doubles top seeds Liu Shengshu-Tan Ning are also out of the competition. The Chinese pair retired while trailing 14-18 in their opening match against the Taiwanese duo of Lin Chih-Chun-Yang Chu Yun.
In the mixed doubles, fourth seeds Jesper Toft-Amalie Magelund of Denmark were beaten 21-15, 21-14 by unheralded Dhruv Kapila-Tanisha Crasto
