Kashyap goes down fighting in China
CHANGZHOU: Shuttler Parupalli Kashyap bowed out of the $150,000 China Masters Grand Prix Gold, losing to third seed Qiao Bin of China in the prequarterfinals 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 (PBL) in January.
The only other Indian in the fray, Harsheel Dani, will take on another Chinese Sun Feixiang in the pre-quarterfinals.
Indian challenge in the women’s singles ended on Wednesday with the elimination of Sai Uttejitha Rao Chukka and Sri Krishna Priya Kudaravalli.
Meanwhile, India’s Rio Olympic Games silver-medallist shuttler, PV Sindhu, is targeting the World No 1 position after climbing to World No 2 briefly, following her win in the Indian Open Superseries in New Delhi early this month.
Sindhu, however, slipped to fifth place last week after her first-round elimination from the Malaysian Open. She also bowed out of the Singapore Open Superseries at the quarterfinal stage.
The two-time World Championship bronze-medallist, however, is not unfazed by the setbacks.
“Winning or losing is part of life. Sometimes you will win, sometimes you will lose,” she was quoted in an interview with IANS.
The 21-year-old also said that she is not really obsessed with rankings, adding that, “If you play well and give your best, it automatically gets your ranking up.”
Her immediate task is to do well in the Asia Badminton Championships to in China from April 25-30. “After that we have the Sudirman Cup in May,” said Sindhu.
On her rivalry with Spaniard Carolina Marin, who she beat in the Indian Open final, but lost to in the Singapore Open quarterfinals, Sindhu said, “I have beaten her sometimes; I have lost to her sometimes. It’s all part of the game.” said Sindhu, adding that off-the-court they were friends. “On-court we fight each other because only one can win.”
KASHYAP WAS RETURNING FROM A SHOULDER INJURY HE SUFFERED DURING THE PREMIER BADMINTON LEAGUE (PBL) IN JANUARY.