Sathish Kumar moves into pre-quarters of BWF Japan Open

Indian shuttler Sathish Kumar Karunakaran progressed to the men’s singles pre-quarterfinals after Denmark’s Anders Antonsen retired hurt midway in their opening-round match at the Japan Open here on Wednesday.

The 23-year-old Indian was leading 6-1 when Antonsen, the world number three, retired just three minutes into the contest at the Yokohama Arena.

Sathish, ranked 47th in the world, will take on Kantaphon Wangcharoen of Thailand in the round of 16.

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However, Kiran George made a first-round exit from the men’s singles competition, going down to Japan’s Kanta Tsuneyama 19-21 14-21 in the Super 750 tournament.

Sumeeth Reddy and Sikki Reddy’s campaign also ended prematurely as the Indian mixed doubles pair retired hurt from their first-round match against Denmark’s Jesper Toft and Amalie Magelund.

In the women’s doubles event, Rutuparna Panda and Swetaparna Panda lost their round-of-32 match to Julie Finne-Ipsen and Mai Surrow of Denmark 8-21 14-21 in 34 minutes.

None of the Indian shuttlers, who competed in the recent Paris Olympics, are playing in this event.