Orleans Masters 2024: India's Kiran, Malvika face early exits in opening round

Orleans [France], March 14 (ANI): Indian shuttlers Kiran George and Malvika Bansod faced an early exit from the ongoing Orleans Masters 2024 badminton tournament after defeats in their respective opening-round games.
Kiran George faced a 21-7, 17-21, 23-21 defeat against Sathish Kumar Karunakaran. Earlier in the Indonesia Masters, George had made it to the quarter-finals of the tournament.
Malvika Bansod lost to Hungary's Vivien Sandorhazi 21-10, 21-15. Earlier, Malvika had won the Azerbaijan International in February.
Meanwhile, Samiya Imad Farooqui and Tanya Hemanth failed to advance to the round of 16 in the women's singles. Farooqui suffered a 21-19, 20-22, 12-21 defeat against Belgian Lianne Tan. Hemanth lost 21-14, 21-11 to Chinese Taipei's Liang Ting-yu.
On the other hand, Anupama Upadhyaya progressed to the next round after sealing an easy 21-7, 21-5 win over Bulgaria's Kaloyana Nalbantova.
In the women's doubles category, the Indian pair of Simran Singhi and Ritika Thaker lost to Indonesia's Meilysa Trias Puspita Sari and Rachel Allessya Rose 21-9, 21-20.
Karunakaran and Aadya Variath won against Germans Patrick Scheiel and Franziska Volkmann 21-14, 21-18 to move to the next round of the mixed doubles. The Indian duo will lock horns with Chen Cheng-kuan and Hsu Yin-hui of Chinese Taipei in the next round.
Ashith Surya and Amrutha Pramuthesh secured a 21-12, 21-16 win over Israeli pair Misha Zilberman and Svetlana Zilberman. They will face off against Danish pair Jesper Toft and Clara Graverson in the upcoming round.
However, B Sumeeth Reddy and Nelakurihi Sikki Reddy lost to the French duo of Julien Maio and Lea Palermo by 21-17, 19-21, 17-21 in the first round of mixed doubles. (ANI)