Indian shuttler Kiran George on Saturday entered the men’s singles final of the $100,000 Indonesia Masters after upsetting home favourite Tommy Sugiarto in Medan.
Kiran beat the Indonesian 23-21, 16-21, 21-8 in 51 minutes in what was the first match between the two and will next face Japanese world No.82 Koo Takahashi in the final of the Super 100 tournament on Sunday. This will be the first match between the two shuttlers.
This will be world No.50 Kiran’s first final of the year. Last year, Kiran, son of former national champion George Thomas, reached three finals, winning two. In 2022, Kiran had won the Odisha Open in Cuttack and the Polish Open. He had also reached the final of the Denmark Masters but went down to Lu Chia-hung of Chinese Taipei.
The 23-year-old from Kochi has been steadily rising in the domestic circuit. From world No.112 at the start of 2021, Kiran rose to a career high ranking of No.43 in January 2023 before dropping to his current ranking of No.50. At the Thailand Open in May-June, Kiran had beaten top Chinese players Shi Yuqi and Weng Hongyang to enter the quarter-finals, showcasing his skills at the Super 500 tournament in Bangkok.
Later in the day, Ashwini Ponnappa and Tanisha Crasto’s solid run came to an end when they lost their women’s doubles semi-finals to local top seeds Lanny Tria Mayasari and Ribka Sugiarto. The Indian seventh seeds lost 22-20, 16-21, 13-21 in 56 minutes. The duo had won the Nantes International in France in June before an abdominal tear put Tanisha out of action for a couple of months.
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