Arctic Open 2023: Kidambi Srikanth And Kiran George Enter Second Round; Mithun Manjunath Bows Out

Vantaa (Finland), October 12: India's Kidambi Srikanth and Kiran George progressed to the men's singles second round in Arctic Open 2023 on Wednesday (October 11) night at the Energia Areena in Vantaa, Finland.

The former World Championships silver medallist Srikanth saw his first round opponent Max Weisskirchen of Germany retire midway through the first game with the score at 11-6 after 7 minutes on court 4.

Srikanth, who came into the tournament fresh from a round of 16 exit in Asian Games 2023, will next face Japan's seventh Kanta Tsuneyama in the second round of the Arctic Open on Thursday (October 12).

Meanwhile, George overcame France's Toma Junior Popov in three games by a scoreline of 22-20, 15-21, 21-15 in the men's singles opener that lasted for an hour and 13 minutes on Court 3. The Indonsia Masters S100 champion George will next face fourth seed Lu Guang Zu of China.

While Srikanth and George progressed, Mithun Manjunath made an early exit following straight games loss to China's Weng Hong Yang by a scoreline of 19-21, 14-21 in 47 minutes on court 3.

Women's doubles pair Ashwini Ponnappa and Tanisha Crasto also progressed to the second round following a hard-fought straight games win over fifth seed Japanese pair Rena Miyaura and Ayaka Sakuramoto by a scoreline of 22-20, 21-19 in 39 minutes.

The Indian pair will next face French pair of Margot Lambert and Anne Tran in the women's doubles round of 16 on Thursday (October 12) when PV Sindhu and Akarshi Kashyap will also be in second round action in women's singles category.

Earlier on Wednesday (October 11), the other women's doubles pair of Rutaparna Panda and Swetaparana Panda suffered a 9-21, 10-21 loss to China's seventh seeded pair Liu Sheng Shu and Tan Ning.

Crasto and Sai Pratheek, who qualified for the main draw in the mixed doubles on Tuesday (October 10), also exited the tournament after a closely contested opening round match against Japan's Hiroki Midorikawa and Natsu Saito by a scoreline of 14-21, 18-21.