Kiran George (PTI Photo/Gurinder Osan) ( NEW DELHI: India had a mixed day at the Swiss Open on Wednesday, with some impressive wins but a few early exits. The biggest highlight came from Kiran George, who stunned former world champion Loh Kean Yew of Singapore in straight games. Ranked 42nd in the world, Kiran overcame the third seed 23-21, 21-19 in the opening round and will next face Hong Kong’s Jason Gunawan. However, Gunawan eliminated former world number one Kidambi Srikanth, defeating him 21-15, 12-21, 21-4 in the round of 16.India also celebrated an upset win in the mixed doubles as Dhruv Kapila and Tanisha Crasto beat Denmark’s fourth seeded pair of Jesper Toft and Amalie Magelund 21-15, 21-14. They will now face China’s Gao Jia Xuan and Wu Meng Ying in the next round.Despite these wins, several Indian shuttlers were eliminated early in the Super 300. In the men’s singles, US Open winner Ayush Shetty lost 18-21, 19-21 to Canada’s Brian Yang. In the women’s singles, Unnati Hooda defeated Chiu Pin-Chian of Chinese Taipei 21-14, 21-14 while top seed Putri Kusuma Wardani of Indonesia comfortably beat India’s Tanvi Sharma 21-11, 21-10 in just 30 minutes.India also faced a setback when 2023 World Cup bronze medalist HS Prannoy was shown by Japan’s Koki Watanabe. In the mixed doubles, Rohan Kapoor and Ruthvika Shivani Gadde crashed out after losing 19-21, 14-21 to fifth-seeded Thai pair Ruttanapak Oupthong and Jhenicha Sudjaipraparat.On a positive note, India’s top men’s doubles pair of Satwiksiraj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty advanced to the round of 16 with a 21-19, 21-19 win over Singaporeans Eng Keat Wesley Koh and Junsuke Kubo. H Amsakarunan and MR Arjun also advanced after beating Chinese Taipei’s Chen Zhi Ray and Lin Yu Chieh 21-16, 24-22.
