Anaheim (USA): Parupalli Kashyap knocked out top seed Lee Hyun Il of Korea in an opening round men’s singles match at the US Open Grand Prix Gold badminton tournament here Wednesday.
On a comeback trail after recovering from a shoulder injury, Kashyap dished out a gritty performance to stave off the challenge from World No. 15 Lee, 21-16, 10-21, 21-19 in a match that lasted 63 minutes.
Kashyap stated after the match that the win will do his confidence a world of good. “Any win over higher-ranked players is now a confidence-booster for me,” he said.
Fifth seed Sameer Verma, who also is making a comeback after recovering from a shoulder problem, also made a positive start to his campaign defeating Vietnam’s Hoang Nam Nguyen 21-5, 21-10 in another men’s singles match.
Second seed HS Prannoy also booked a second round berth with a fluent 21-12, 21-16 win over Austria’s Luka Wraber, while Harsheel Dani brushed aside Mexico’s Arturo Hernandez 21-13, 21-9 in another match.
In women’s singles, Rituparna Das defeated Canada’s Rachel Honderich 21-16, 21-18 and Sri Krishna Priya Kudaravalli beat USA’s Maya Chen 21-13, 21-16. However, it was curtains for Lakhanee Sarang, Abhishek Yelegar, Sai Uttejitha Rao Chukka, Reshma Karthik and Ruthvika Shivani Gadde.
Lakhanee lost 16-21, 13-21 to Kenta Nishimoto of Japan, Abhishek suffered a narrow 17-21, 21-16, 13-21 loss to third seed Brice Leverdez of France and Netherlands’ Gayle Mahulette ended Sai Uttejitha Rao’s campaign 23-25, 21-13, 21-16. Ruthvika also put up a gallant fight before losing 14-21, 27-25, 16-21 to Japan’s Aya Ohori and Reshma’s fight too ended with a heart-breaking 21-12, 16-21, 15-21 loss against Sofie Holmboe Dahl of Denmark in the opening round.
In men’s doubles, Manu Attri and B Sumeeth Reddy defeated Canada’s Jason Anthony Ho-Shue and Nyl Yakura 21-15, 21-19 in a match that lasted close to an hour, while Francis Alwin and Tarun Kona beat the local combo of Yan Tuck Chan and Brian Chi Cheng 21-3, 21-10.
In women’s doubles the Indian duo of Meghana Jakkampudi and Poorvisha S Ram defeated Japan’s Rira Kawashima and Saori Ozaki 21-16, 14-21 21-14. However, in mixed doubles, the third-seeded pair of Pranaav Jerry Chopra and N Sikki Reddy lost 21-19, 19-21, 17-21 to the English combo of Ben Lane and Jessica Pugh.