Indian sports wrap, November 7: Kiran George through to Korea Masters quarterfinal

BADMINTON

Korea Masters 2024: Kiran George defeats Chi Yu Jen, through to quarterfinal

India’s Kiran George dished out yet another gritty performance to upset third seed Chi Yu Jen of Chinese Taipei in a tough three-game match and progress to the men’s singles quarterfinals of the Korea Masters badminton tournament on Thursday.

The 24-year-old Indian overcame his Chinese Taipei opponent, ranked 31 in the world, 21-17, 19-21, 21-17 in a second round match that lasted one hour and 15 minutes.

World number 44 George will play fifth seed Takuma Obayashi of Japan in the last-eight round. Earlier also, George had to dig deep to defeat Vietnam’s Kuan Lin Kuo 15-21, 21-12, 21-15 in the opening round of the BWF Super 300 tournament.

George, the lone Indian shuttler competing in the tournament, started brightly and always had his nose ahead of his Chinese Taipei rival in the opening game to eventually take the lead.

In the second game, George continued in the same vein and enjoyed early lead before Jen bounced back to draw level.

But the Indian returned to his elements in the decider and raced to 8-2 lead before his opponent slowly and steadily clawed his way back to level things at 14-14 and then to 17-17.

But from there on, it was George who took control of the proceedings to seal his quarterfinal berth.

-PTI

BEACH VOLLEYBALL

International beach volleyball is back in the city after 14 years. Marina Beach Sports Club will conduct the World Pro Tour Challenge at the Inter-Continental Hotels & Resort, ECR here from November 21 to 24. The men’s section will have 32 teams while the women’s will consist of 24 teams. The qualifying matches will be on Nov. 22. 

The Indian participation will have four pairs, two each in men and women. S. Bharath and R. Robin will play in the main draw while S. Selvam and G. Thiyagarajan will compete in the qualifying.

In the women’s section, Kanimozhi and Sasikala will feature in the main draw and the pair of Pavithra and Deepika will be in qualifying. The total prize money of the tournament is $200000. 

The duo of Bharath and Robin for whom it will be only its second Challenge Tour, said it will fight hard. “There are a couple of Paris Olympians–Austria’s Horst & Leitner, Thomas Hodges and Zachery Schubert (Australia), Trevor Crabb & Theodore Brunner (USA). The competition will be extremely tough but we will give our best,” said the pair. 

Speaking to reporters here on Thursday, A. J. Martin Sudhakar, Secretary of Marina Beach SC said: “Marina Beach SC has signed an agreement with FIVB (International volleyball body).

FIVB has given us the consent to organise the event There are 18 tournaments this year. Chennai is the 16th stop. We appeal to the State Government to financially help us in running the tournament.”

– TEAM SPORTSTAR