Garaga-Roy Shock Sixth Seeds to Reach Korea Masters Second Round

India's Krishna Prasad Garaga and Pruthvi Krishnamurthy Roy produced an impressive upset at the Korea Masters Super 300 badminton tournament, defeating the sixth-seeded Thai pair of Chaloempon Charoenkitamorn and Worrapol Thongsa-Nga in straight games to advance to the men's doubles second round on Tuesday.

The unseeded Indian duo delivered a composed performance, taking just 42 minutes to register a 21-16, 21-18 victory over their higher-ranked opponents. The result marks one of India's standout performances on the opening day of the tournament.

Garaga and Roy will next face the winners of the first-round clash between Singapore's Junsuke Kubo and Jia Hao Howin Wong and the South Korean pair of Young Hyuk Kim and Tae Yang Shin, with a place in the quarterfinals at stake.

However, it was a disappointing outing for India's other men's doubles pair. Achutaditya Rao Doddavarapu and Arjun Reddy Pochana suffered a heavy 3-21, 10-21 defeat against the second-seeded pairing of South Korea's Sol Gyu Choi and Malaysia's V Shem Goh, exiting the tournament in the opening round.

India also endured an early setback in the women's doubles, where Priya Konjengbam and Shruti Mishra were knocked out after losing 15-21, 13-21 to second seeds Ririna Hiramoto and Kokona Ishikawa of Japan.

In the men's singles qualifiers, Tushar Suveer began on a positive note with a 21-15, 21-12 win over Canada's Shaurya Gullaiya in the opening qualifying round. However, his campaign ended in the next stage after a 10-21, 17-21 defeat to Japan's Shogo Ogawa, denying him a place in the main draw.