Kashyap and Sameer in quarters of Orleans Open
Indian shuttlers P Kashyap and Sameer Verma entered the quarterfinals of the Orleans Open World Super 100 tournament with straight game wins in the men’s singles competition here.
Fifth seed Kashyap, who clinched the Austrian Open last month, defeated Ireland’s Joshua Magee 21-11, 21-14, while Swiss Open champion and top seed Sameer beat local hope Thomas Rouxel 2116, 21-15 in another match played yesterday.
Kashyap, a Commonwealth Games gold medallist, will face Denmark’s third seed Rasmus Gemke, while Sameer takes on another local player Lucas Corvee, seeded eighth.
Kashyap, who was handed a bye in the opener, brushed aside Croatia’s Zvonimir Durkinjak 21-16, 21-7. Sameer, who also got a bye in the opening round, defeated Russia’s Sergey Sirant in the second round.
Men’s doubles pair of Francis Alwin and K Nandagopal, seeded sixth, prevailed over Poland combo of Milosz Bochat and Adam Cwalina 15-21, 21-17, 21-17 to also advance to the quarterfinals.
The Indian duo will face third seeded German combo of Mark Lamsfuss and Marvin Emil Seidel next.
Slowly making a comeback after recovering from a year-long battle with ankle injury, R M V Gurusaidutt went down fighting 20-22, 21-17, 17-21 to 2015 World Champion bronze medallist Jan O Jorgensen who is also returning from a foot injury.
Another Indian Mugdha Agrey lost 11-21 9-21 to Gregoria Mariska Tunjung of Indonesia as Indian challenge ended in women’s singles at Palais des Sports.
Medal in all five
The excitement was palpable in his voice as reigning men’s singles champion Parupalli Kashyap predicted the Indian badminton team’s bestever haul, including a medal in each event, at the upcoming Commonwealth Games.
Four years ago, Kashyap had broken a 32-year-old record when he won India’s third men’s singles gold at CWG, emulating Prakash Padukone (1978) and Syed Modi (1982).
His exploits helped India bring home four medals from the discipline at the Glasgow Games — one gold, one silver and two bronze medals.
Since that day when he stood with the tri-colour draping him, Kashyap’s life took a massive turn as multiple injuries, including a calf muscle tear and a knee surgery coupled with poor form, saw his ranking dip and he eventually missed the bus for the Gold Coast Games.
“I would have loved to play again but if I were the team selectors, I wouldn’t put myself in the team because Prannoy and Srikanth have done exceptionally well,” the former world number 6 said.
“We have a good team and if we can play to our potential, best possible scenario we should win a medal in all five categories, so more than four medals for sure.”
Top seed India have been drawn with minnows Pakistan, Scotland and Sri Lanka in Group A of the Games, which will be held from April 4 to 15.