Kashyap out in last 16 of China Masters

PV SINDHU CLIMBED TWO PLACES TO ACHIEVE THIRD SPOT IN THE LATEST BWF RANKINGS RELEASED THURSDAY

Shuttler Parupalli Kashyap bowed out of the $150,000 China Masters Grand Prix Gold, losing to third seed Qiao Bin of China in the pre-quarterfinals on Thursday.

The former Commonwealth Games champion lost 10-21, 22-20, 13-21 to the Chinese rival in a contest that lasted one hour and 16 minutes. Kashyap was returning from a shoulder injury he suffered during the Premier Badminton League in January. The other Indian in the fray, Harsheel Dani, lost 21-17, 21-18 to China’s Fleixiang Sun in another prequarterfinal tie.

Meanwhile, Olympic medallist PV Sindhu climbed two places to achieve third spot in the latest Badminton World Federation (BWF) rankings released on Thursday.

Sindhu’s upward move in rankings came after she made a quarterfinal finish at the Singapore Open Superseries, where she went down 11-21, 15-21 to Carolina Marin of Spain. Saina Nehwal, who is still struggling to find her feet after a knee injury post the Rio Olympics, has moved up one place to eighth spot.

In men’s singles rankings, B Sai Praneeth has jumped eight places to achieve his career-best ranking of World No 22 after clinching the Singapore Open title following a straight games win over Kidambi Srikanth.