Mulheim an der Ruhr (Germany), Feb 26 (IANS) On a good day for Indians, rising shuttler H.S. Prannoy pulled off one of the biggest upsets of his career by beating fellow countryman and friend Parupalli Kashyap at the $120,000 German Open Grand Prix Gold here Wednesday.
This was the 21-year-old’s first win over academy mate and ninth seed Kashyap in two meetings. Prannoy won the men’s singles second round 21-19, 21-18 in 47 minutes at the RWE-Sporthalle.
The Kerala shuttler will next face South Korean sixth seed Wan Ho Son for a place in the quarter-finals.
Earlier, Anand Pawar and Arvind Bhat also progressed to the third round by beating their respective opponents.
While World No.34 Pawar of Mumbai expectedly beat Slovenian Iztok Utrosa 21-16, 21-12 in 28 minutes, former national champion Bhat also caused a big upset by overcoming Hong Kong third seed and World No.10 Yun Hu 21-17, 16-21, 21-11 in 59 minutes.
P.C. Thulasi and Arundhati Pantawane also tasted first round success in women’s singles.
As Arundhati overcame Danish Line Kjaersfeldt 17-21, 22-20, 21-19 in 51 minutes, Thulasi made a remarkable recovery to beat Canadian Li Michelle 7-21, 21-19, 21-17 in one hour and two minutes to progress to Round 2.
