Bangkok [Thailand], May 30 : Indian shuttlers Ashmita Chaliha and Malvika Bansod advanced to the main draw in the women's singles at the Thailand Open 2023 badminton tournament on Tuesday.
Ashmita Chaliha first defeated compatriot Unnati Hooda 21-16, 13-21, 21-19 in her first qualifier and then beat Kristin Kuuba of Estonia to confirm her berth in the main draw.
The 23-year-old Ashmita Chaliha will now face another Indian shuttler Malvika Bansod, who was scheduled to play in the qualifiers initially but got a direct entry into the main draw as per Olympics.com.
On the other, Sameer Verma defeated Yeoh Seng Zoe of Malaysia 21-12, 21-17 in the men's singles qualifiers to book his site to the main draw. He also defected Indonesia's Christian Adinata and Spain's Luis Enrique Penalver in an opening couple of rounds.
Sameer will compete against Magnus Johannesen of Denmark in round 1 of the main draw.
Kiran George, on the other hand, defeated fellow countryman Kartikey Gulshan Kumar 21-14, 21-18 to advance to the main draw after defeating Korea's Jeon Hyeok Jin 21-10, 21-14 in the first qualifying round. The 23-year-old will face China's Shi Yu Qi of the People's Republic in the main draw.
Sai Praneeth and Mithun Manjunath received straight entrance into the men's singles main draw, who earlier were scheduled to play in the qualifiers, they will join fellow countrymen Kidambi Srikanth and Lakshya Sen.
In the women's doubles qualifiers, the Indian pair of Palak Arora and Unnati Hooda exited in the first round.
Indian top shuttlers PV Sindhu and Saina Nehwal will be in action in the main draw of the Bangkok meet on Wednesday.
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