Kashyap loses to Li Shi in final
Calgary, July 8: Former Commonwealth Games champion Parupalli Kashyap’s impressive run at the Canada Open Super 100 tournament came to an end after he lost a threegame thriller to China’s Li Shi Feng in the men’s singles summit clash here.
Sixth seed Kashyap, who has produced some gritty performances this week, fell short against Feng, going down 22-20 14-21 1721 in the finals that clocked an hour and 16 minutes.
“Silver it is @yonexcanadaopen. It was a good fight in the final. Lost to LiShifeng (China) ... Can’t say it was the best I played this week but overall it was a good week here. Thank you to all the fans for the support. Thank you to @prannoy_hs_ for extending his stay just to help me out. Next up US open at LA. Until next time Calgary! Cheers !!!,” Kashyap tweeted.
Fellow shuttler HS Prannoy had stayed back to help Kashyap with oncourt coaching and also acted as a physio after coach Amrish Shinde and physio Sumansh Sivalanka had to leave early for the US Open World Tour Super 300 tournament.
A former top-10 player, Kashyap, who has been struggling with injuries for the last few years, seemed quite fit as he played three-game matches against China’s Ren Peng Bo, France’s Lucas Claerbout and Chinese Taipei’s Wang Tzu Wei in the run-up to the final. Kashyap had reached the semifinals of the India Open early this year and the final finish at Canada Open is his best performance of the season.
Meanwhile, two years after he had signed off second best after being trumped by H S Prannoy in an enthralling allIndian final at the US Open, Kashyap will look to do one better in the tournament, starting with the qualifiers Tuesday.
Kashyap will once again be at the forefront as he leads the Indian challenge at the USD 150,000 BWF World Tour Super 300 tournament.
The 32-year-old from Hyderabad, seeded sixth, will take on the promising Lakshya Sen, a 2018 Asian Junior Champion, in the opening round.
Prannoy will look for a good outing after an early exit at the Canada Open. The 26-year-old, who had won the tournament in 2017, has been seeded second and he will start against a tricky opponent in Japan’s Yu Igarashi.
National champion Sourabh Verma, too, will hope to hang around for the weekend when he begins against England’s Toby Penty, while Ajay Jayaram will meet fourth seeded Wang Tzu Wei of Chinese Taipei.
Jayaram will look to take some tips from Kashyap, who had defeated Wang at Calgary.
In women’s singles, Anura Prabhudesai will take on a qualifier, while Sri Krishna Priya Kudaravalli faces Korean third seed Kim Ga Eun. The men’s doubles pair of Manu Attri and B Sumeeth Reddy will square off against Korean combination of Lee Yong Dae and Yoo Yeon Seong.