Parupalli Kashyap crashes out of Swiss Open Grand Prix
The fifth seeded Indian squandered a game advantage to lose to Wei Feng Chong of Malaysia 21-18 7-21 16-21 in a 55-minute contest.
Top Indian shuttler Parupalli Kashyap crashed out of the Swiss Open Grand Prix Gold badminton tournament after losing to Wei Feng Chong of Malaysia in the pre-quarterfinals of the men's singles event in Basel on Thursday.
The fifth seeded Indian squandered a game advantage to lose to his ninth-seeded opponent 21-18 7-21 16-21 in a 55-minute contest.
London Olympics quarterfinalist, Kashyap raced to an 8-4 lead in the opening game but was pegged back by the Malaysian. Both were neck and neck for a while before Kashyap broke away to take three straight points at 17-16 and bag the first game.
The Indian was surprisingly out of sorts in the second game as he trailed all through after being tied at 2-2. Chong took control as he reeled off nine straight points from 8-4 to easily win the second game and set up a decider.
The decider was a gripping affair with the duo locked at 8-8 after an intense exchange. Chong reeled off five straight points from 8-8 but Kashyap fought back to level at 13-13 and then at 15-15.
Kashyap, however, lost the plot towards the close as he allowed his Malaysian opponent to win five straight points to trail 15-20 before losing the match.
In another men's singles pre-quarterfinal match, HS Prannoy lost to Tien Chen Chou of Chinese Taipei 16-21 21-15 15-21 in a contest that lasted an hour. Prannoy had stunned seventh seed Boonsak Ponsana of Thailand in the second round.
In men's doubles, the Indian duo of Pranaav Jerry Chopra and Akshay Dewalkar were handed a straight-game defeat by the Korean top seeds Sung Hyun Ko and Yong Dae Lee, who won 21-14 21-12.
In the women's singles, top seed Indian Saina Nehwal, who regained her second place in world ranking today, prevailed over Sashina Vignes Waran of France 13-21 21-15 21-12 in a 47-minute match to advance to the pre-quarterfinals.
Rising star P V Sindhu also made an exit from the tournament after losing to qualifier Yui Hashimito of Japan 21-23 11-21 in a 39-minute women's singles second round contest.
Sindhu was leading by a huge margin in the opening game but lost steam later on to lose the match. The Indian was leading 14-6 in the first game but Hashimito caught up at 18-18 before winning on deuce.
The first game setback seemed to have got into Sindhu's mind as she was outplayed in the second game by her Japanese opponent.