India Open: Ray of hope from late entrant Kiran; Sindhu in quarters

Till Monday evening, Kiran George didn't even know if he would be playing at the $950,000 India Open.

- Sandip Sikdar

NEW DELHI: Having not got a direct entry into the men's singles draw due to his low world ranking (No. 38), the 24-year-old was relaxing with his badminton pals here when he got a call that defending champion and top seed Shi Yu Qi of China and Indonesian eighth seed Anthony Sinisuka Ginting had pulled out of the Super 750 event.

The son of former national champion George Thomas, Kiran immediately reached his hotel to pick up his kit and left for the Indira Gandhi Sports Complex to prepare for his opener against a higher-ranked opponent the next day, Japan's Yushi Tanaka.

Despite a lack of practice, the Prakash Padukone Badminton Academy (PPBA) product dug deep to beat the world No. 25 21-19, 14-21, 27-25 in a thriller that lasted an hour and 11 minutes.