After dealing with a series of injuries, reigning Commonwealth Games champion Parupalli Kashyap is slowly coming back to form. The former World No. 6 stormed into the pre-quarter-finals of the $120,000 JEJU VICTOR 2016 Korea Masters Championships by upsetting the fourth seed and World No. 32 Wang Tzu Wei of Korea at the Seogwipo Olympic Stadium on Wednesday.
The 30-year-old gave a testimony of his strong nerves and much-improved fitness as he was able to stave off a challenge from the higher-ranked Korean. After winning the opening game 21-15, Kashyap was thoroughly outplayed in the second and the Korean went on to clinch the one-sided game 21-9 to level the contest.
A gritty battle ensued in the decider and Kashyap managed to hold off the surging Wei narrowly as he emerged a 21-15, 9-21, 21-19 winner in 49 minutes.
The Indian will next face fellow unseeded Zhou Zeqi of China for a place in the quarter-finals. This was the first time that Kashyap took the court in the tournament this week. He had earlier got a walkover from Korean ace Kang Min Woo in the first round.
He is trying to make a comeback after a season ravaged with a knee surgery that robbed him of a chance to play at the Rio Olympics.
Kashyap is the solitary Indian playing at this Grand Prix Gold event.
Indians progress at the Bangladesh International
Meanwhile, young Satwiksairaj Rankireddy continues to soar. The 16-year-old in tandem with K Maneesha has reached the quarter-finals of the Bangladesh International in mixed doubles.
The duo, who are the top seeds, lost nine points to cruise to a 21-4, 21-5 victory over the Bangladesh pair of Al-Amin Zumar and Mst Rehana Parvin.
Women’s singles third seed Rituparna Das was equally impressive and easily dismissed Dulali Haldar 21-9, 21-8 in just 26 minutes. There was no such luck for Reshma Karthik, who faced the top seed Thi Trang (B) Vu. The Vietnamese shuttler withstood a late challenge from Karthik to beat the Indian, 21-11, 21-17.
In men’s singles, all the seeded Indians – Pratul Joshi, Shreyansh Jaiswal, Aditya Joshi and Abhishek Yelegar – made it to the quarter-finals.
