Anaheim (California): The Indian juggernaut in men’s badminton continued to roll with former Commonwealth Games gold medallist Parupalli Kashyap setting up a title clash with HS Prannoy at the $1,20,000 US Open Grand Prix Gold badminton tournament here Saturday.
After limping out of the court with a calf injury in October 2015, it will be the first final for Kashyap in 21 months, while Prannoy, who has always been plagued by injuries, also reached his first summit clash after clinching the Swiss Open title last year.
Kashyap eked out a hard-fought 15-21, 21-15, 21-16 win over Korean Kwang Hee Heo in the semifinal which lasted 66 minutes. Prannoy, on the other hand, notched up a 21-14, 21-19 win over Vietnam’s Tien Minh Nguyen in the other semifinal. This was Prannoy’s maiden victory over the Vietnamese, having lost to him on two previous occasions.
It will be the second time this season that two Indians will fight it out for the title at international badminton. In April, Kidambi Srikanth and B Sai Praneeth had played in the finals of Singapore Open with the latter claiming his maiden Super Series title.
However, it was disappointment in men’s doubles as the pair of Manu Attri and B Sumeeth Reddy fought hard before going down 12-21, 21-12, 20-22 to top seeds Lu Ching Yao and Yang Po Han.
“It is good to reach a tournament final after a long time,” Kashyap said after his match. It was a tough match against the Korean. He had started really well and I took time to adjust to the conditions. However, once I got my rhythm, I had the measure of Heo and could control the pace of the game,” he added.
Kashyap also stated that beating the top seed player in the first round of the tourney had been a huge confidence-booster for him. “Also playing against Sameer (Verme) was tough. He is a tricky player and it has always been close matches with him. Really looking forward to the final,” Kasyap pointed out.
