"It was a good tournament for me overall": Kiran George after finishing runner-up at Denmark Masters

Kiran George counted plenty of positives after reaching the Denmark Masters men’s singles final in Hillerød, Denmark on Sunday, June 12.

The 22-year-old Kiran George finished runner-up at the four-day International Challenge tournament and kept the Indian flag flying high till the final day. The Kerala youngster lost to Lu Chia Hung of Chinese Taipei 18-21, 11-21 in 31 minutes but was satisfied with his overall efforts in the tournament.

Sixth seed Kiran did well to storm into the final but his four-match winning spree was halted by world No. 87 Lu Chia Hung in the summit clash.

In a talk with Sportskeeda on Tuesday, Kiran George said:

“It was a good tournament for me overall. Even though I couldn’t win the tournament, I still managed to get some good wins under my belt. I couldn’t play my best during the finals and my opponent had a better game plan that day.”

World No. 70 Kiran has been training at the Prakash Padukone Badminton Academy (PPBA) in Bengaluru for the last several years. Kiran represented the country at the 2020 Thomas Cup and 2022 Badminton Asia Team Championships.

Kiran George added:

“I would like to thank Prakash Padukone Sir, Vimal Kumar Sir, Sagar Chopda Sir, and Korean coach Yoo Yongsung for their continuous support and guidance. I will be playing in the Singapore Open and Taipei Open next if the visa comes through.”

Kiran, who hails from Kochi, has been one of the most consistent Indian men’s singles shuttlers on the international circuit this season.

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Kiran George misses hat-trick of titles in 2022

In 2022, Kiran has so far won two titles. Had he won the Denmark Masters final against the Chinese Taipei player on Sunday, Kiran would have completed a hat-trick of titles this year.

Kiran started 2022 with a bang after emerging victorious at the inaugural Odisha Open in January. He then added the Polish Open title to his kitty with another fabulous performance. Kiran also won a couple of international titles last year.

Senior coach Sagar Chopda accompanied Kiran during the Denmark Masters. Chopda praised Kiran for pulling off some hard-fought matches.

He said:

“It was a very good tournament for Kiran. He played some good tough back-to-back matches. Winning four good matches eventually took a toll and that was evident in the finals. His movements were slow and the opponent played a very steady game in the summit clash.”

Former international shuttler Chopda admitted that Kiran’s defence has reached another level and would help when he faces even tougher opponents in the future.

Chopda said:

“There were some positives from this tournament. Kiran’s defence has improved a lot. He is able to play back-to-back hard rallies which wasn’t the case earlier. As far as improvements are concerned, endurance and lower body strength needs to get better to play at the next level.”

Hyderabad’s Samiya Imad Farooqui and Tanya Hemanth of Bengaluru did reasonably well in the women’s singles.

Third seed Sung Shuo Yun of Chinese Taipei defeated 19-year-old Samiya Imad Farooqui 21-7, 21-15 in the quarter-finals.

18-year-old Tanya Hemanth went down fighting against Malaysia’s Eoon Qi Xuan 19-21, 21-9, 18-21 in the pre-quarters.

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Kiran George’s road to the final

First round

6-Kiran beat Chia Hao Lee (Chinese Taipei) 21-17, 21-15 (33 minutes)

Second round

6-Kiran beat Kim Donghun (Korea) 21-13, 16-21, 23-21 (64 minutes)

Quarter-final

6-Kiran beat Julien Carraggi (Belgium) 21-14, 21-18 (40 minutes)

Semi-final

6-Kiran beat 8-Mads Christophersen (Denmark) 10-21, 21-9, 21-16 (53 minutes)

Final

6-Kiran lost to Lu Chia Hung (Chinese Taipei) 18-21, 11-21 (31 minutes).