Parupalli Kashyap sinks, compatriots sail

Parupalli Kashyap was defeated 21-17 13-21 18-21 in a tough encounter that lasted an hour and five minutes.

Parupalli Kashyap, Parupalli Kashyap Badminton, Badminton Parupalli Kashyap, Parupalli Kashyap Badminton, Badminton Parupalli Kashyap, Parupalli Kashyap India Badminton, India Badminton Parupalli Kashyap, Badminton News, Badminton

Parupalli Kashyap, seeded 10th, played out of his skin but could not get past 32-year-old Tien Minh Nguyen of Vietnam. (Source: Reuters)

Vietnam’s Nguyen Tien Minh was a Top 5 shuttler not too long ago, in 2013 to be precise. Kashyap had scalped the then higher ranked opponent at the London Olympics – when he cracked the Top 20 and made the quarters, and reversed a trend of four straight losses against the wily rival. But after levelling the 4-4 head-to-head late in 2012, his familiar old nemesis would return after two seasons to once again haunt the 10th seeded Indian at the World Championships in Indonesia.

On a day when his compatriots, Saina Nehwal, HS Prannoy and K Srikanth chugged into the pre-quarters, Kashyap looked dazed as he was outwitted by the old foe losing 21-17, 13-21, 18-21 in a battle that lasted a little over an hour. Tien Minh, 32, has in his career troubled World No 1 Lee Chong Wei in an annoying sort of way, has beaten Taufik Hidayat and the Danes, and also run the Chinese close. At 5’6”, he is not the biggest guy on the circuit, but he runs tirelessly and is very tricky at the net, which is where he got stuck into Kashyap on Wednesday.

[related-post]

Tien Minh stalked Kashyap through the first half of the the first set with the drift bothering the 29-year-old Hyderabadi and though the Indian took the opener, the Vietnamese, currently a dangerous floater in the draw ranked No 34 in the world continued to move well and draw out errors from long rallies, getting better as the match progressed. Kashyap looked in trouble at 15-16 in the decider though he prevailed in a long rally. But the huge effort of that rally seemed to have taken the fight out of him, as he struggled for a gameplan to stall Tien Minh’s progress and went out of the Worlds early.

Easy outing

Story continues below this ad

World No 2 Saina Nehwal had an easy Round 2 wrapping up her opener in 33 minutes as she beat Ngan Yi Cheung 21-13, 21-9 late in the day. She will be back battling a bigger challenge in the form of Sayaka Takahashi. The Japanese is a hustler, and Nehwal will need to be prepared for long rallies and a lot of running to keep her all-win record (3-0) intact.

On Wednesday, Nehwal showed no signs of the iffy shoulder bothering her and moved well — helped by the fact that she was hardly tested by the Honk Kong girl ranked 23. Nehwal was especially brutal in closing out the match taking her 9-6 lead in the second set to 19-6 in quick time, letting rip her smashes preparing for bigger challenges ahead.

Kidambi Srikanth and H S Prannoy sailed into the pre-quarterfinals with straight-game wins. World No. 3 Srikanth, who won the India Super Series this year, defeated Chinese Taipei’s Hsu Jen Hao 21-14 21-15. World No. 12 Prannoy meanwhile faced some hiccups from the spirited Ugandan Edwin Ekiring. The Ugandan threatened to drag things into a decider before conceding the match 21-14 21-19 to the Indian.

While third seed Srikanth will take on 13th seed Hu Yun of Hong Kong, against whom the Hyderabadi has a 2-0 record, 11th seed Prannoy will have a tough task ahead as he faces Denmark’s Viktor Axelsen. The World No. 7 has beaten Prannoy twice in the last two meetings.

Story continues below this ad

There was good news for 2011 World Championship bronze medallists, Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa as the 13th seed beat Chinese Taipei pair of Hsueh Pei Chen and Wu Ti Jung 21-10 21-18 in women’s doubles competition. The Glasgow Commonwealth Games silver medallists will next meet eighth seeds Reika Kakiiwa and Miyuki Maeda of Japan in the pre-quarters.

Among other Indians in fray, women’s doubles combo of Pradnya Gadre and Sikki N Reddy suffered a 17-21 19-21 loss to 14th seeded Japanese combo of Shizuka Matsuo and Mami Naito, while Pranaav Jerry Chopra and Akshay Dewalkar went down 16-21 12-21 to Denmark’s Mads Conrad-Petersen and Mads Pieler Kolding in the men’s doubles event.