Thailand Open 2023: PV Sindhu and Kidambi Srikanth ousted, Kiran George stuns Shi Yu Qi

PV Sindhu suffered a shock first-round exit at Thailand Open Super 500 tournament on Wednesday. The 2-time Olympic medalist lost in three games to World No. 15 Michelle Li, going down to the Canadian for only the 3rd time in her career in 12 meetings.

PV Sindhu, who reached the semi-final of the Malaysia Masters last week, lost the opening game meekly but fought back to force a decider only to lose 8-21 21-18 18-21.

Former world championship medalist Kidambi Srikanth also lost in the men's singles opening round in Thailand Open. He lost to China's Weng Hong Yang 8-21, 21-16, 14-21.

However, young Kiran George put on a stunning show as he scripted a



straight-game win over World No. 9 Shi Yu Qi of China. Kiran, World No. 59, came through to the main draw from the qualifying rounds. He defeated third seed Shi Yuqi 21-18 22-20 to shock the 2018 World Championships silver medalist.

Kiran will take on China's Weng Hong Yang next.

Meanwhile, Lakshya also dug deep to eke out a hard-fought 21-23 21-15 21-15 win over Chinese Taipei's Wang Tzu Wei. He is likely to square off against All England champion Li Shi Feng of China.

Commonwealth Games champion and top seeds Satwik and Chirag too had to work hard to outwit the Danish combination of Rasmus Kjaer and Frederik Sogaard 21-13 18-21 21-17 in a thrilling match.