Kiran George stunned former world champion Loh Kean Yew of Singapore to qualify for the second round of the Swiss Open 2026 badminton tournament at St Jakobshalle in Basel on Wednesday.
Kiran George, 42nd in the badminton rankings, took 41 minutes to edge past his world No. 11 and third-seeded opponent with a 23-21, 21-19 scoreline in his opening round match of the BWF Super 300 tournament.
In the next round, the 26-year-old Indian will face Hong Kong China’s Jason Gunawan, who knocked out former world no. 1 Kidambi Srikanth in his opening match with a 21-15, 12-21, 4-21 victory.
Prannoy withdraws
HS Prannoy also bowed out as he withdrew before his opening round match against Koki Watanabe, handing the Japanese badminton player a walkover.
In a reversal, Japan’s Kenta Nishimoto was forced to retire hurt from his opening round match, handing Tharun Mannepalli a passage to the next round. Mannepalli, ranked 43rd in the world, was leading 16-21 21-16 7-2 when the fifth-seeded Nishimoto retired due to a shoulder issue. The 24-year-old Indian shuttler will face Malaysia’s Justin Hoh next.
Indian mixed doubles pair of Dhruv Kapila and Tanisha Crasto also notched up an upset win over fourth-seeded Jesper Toft and Amalie Magelund of Denmark 21-15, 21-14 in their opening match.
Several Indian players bow out
However, several Indian players, including last year’s US Open champion Ayush Shetty and Tanvi Sharma, bowed out in the opening round. In the men’s singles, Ayush Shetty lost 21-18, 21-19 to Canada’s Brian Yang, while Chinese Taipei’s Chiu Pin-Chian outclassed Unnati Hooda 21-14, 21-14 in the women’s singles.
Malvika Bansod also went down to Thailand’s world No. 8 Pornpawee Chochuwong 21-11, 21-15.
Tanvi Sharma, meanwhile, lost to top seed Putri Kusuma Wardani of Indonesia 21-11, 21-10 in a contest that lasted 30 minutes.
In mixed doubles, Rohan Kapoor and Ruthvika Shivani Gadde suffered a 21-19, 21-14 loss to fifth seeds Ruttanapak Oupthong and Jhenicha Sudjaipraparat of Thailand.
