Hylo Open: Kiran George stuns world No.13 Popov; Lakshya, Rakshitha enter quarterfinals

India’s Kiran George stunned world No.13 Toma Junior Popov of France to enter the men’s singles quarterfinals of the USD 475,000 Hylo Open Super 500 badminton tournament here on Thursday.

World No. 38 Kiran, son of former national champion George Thomas, produced a gritty performance to outwit eighth seed Popov 18-21, 21-18, 21-19 in a 69-minute thriller.

The 25-year-old, who trains at the Prakash Padukone Badminton Academy, had last reached a Super 750 quarterfinal at the India Open in January.

A two-time Super 100 winner — having claimed the 2022 Odisha Open and 2023 Indonesia Masters — Kiran will next face either second seed Jonatan Christie of Indonesia or Chinese Taipei’s Chi Yu Jen.

Earlier, Lakshya Sen and Rakshitha Ramesh booked their berths in the men’s and women’s singles quarterfinals with contrasting victories.

Lakshya, the 2021 World Championships bronze medallist, eased past compatriot S Subramanian 21-14, 21-11, while Rakshitha overcame Shriyanshi Valishetty 19-21, 21-8, 21-13 in another all-Indian contest that clocked 58 minutes.

Lakshya will take on fourth seed Alex Lanier of France next, while Rakshitha is set to meet Denmark’s sixth seed Line Christophersen.

Kiran, who was part of India’s 2022 Thomas Cup-winning and 2020 Asian Team Championships squads, had earlier shocked world No.1 Shi Yu Qi of China in 2023. However, a series of injuries and narrow losses had hampered his progress.

On Thursday, Kiran was left doing the catching-up job as he fell behind early. Though he kept snapping at Toma’s heels, coming close at 16-17, the Frenchman managed to seize the opening game.

After the change of ends, Kiran raced to a 7-1 lead, leaving Toma to erase a huge deficit. The young Frenchman fought back to 19-18, but this time the Indian didn’t put a foot wrong and forced the match into a decider.

In the third game, Kiran trailed 6-11, raising doubts of another missed opportunity, but the Indian displayed nerves of steel to claw his way back to 15-16 before turning the tables at 19-17 and slamming the door on his rival.

In another men’s singles pre-quarterfinal, Ayush Shetty will face sixth seed and former world champion Loh Kean Yew of Singapore.