E-Paper
Kashyap stretched in first round encounter
Commonwealth Games bronze medallist P Kashyap managed to kick off his world badminton championship campaign on a winning note in London on Tuesday.
Commonwealth Games bronze medallist P Kashyap managed to kick off his world badminton championship campaign on a winning note in London on Tuesday.
The 24-year-old, ranked 28th in the world, wasted two match points in the second game but came back strongly in the decider to defeat Germany's Dieter Domke 21-13, 23-25, 21-11 in just under an hour at the Wembley arena.
The Indian looked set for a straight set victory over world number 85 Domke, who he had beaten comprehensively in their earlier three meetings, when he opened up a 13-4 lead in the second round. However, Domke fought back to level the scores at 18-18.
Though Kashyap managed to get two match points, he failed to convert any of them. But to the relief of coach Pullela Gopi Chand, the shuttler raised his game in the decider to set up a second round encounter against seventh seed Tien Minh Nguyen of Vietnam, who thrashed Misha Zilberman of Israel 21-10, 21-14 in his first round match.
While Kashyap joined teammate Ajay Jayaram in the second round of men's singles, India's campaign in men's doubles came to an end when national champions Rupesh Kumar and Sanave Thomas lost 19-21, 21-11, 21-12 against eighth seed Alvent Yulianto Chandra and Hendra Aprida Gunawan of Indonesia in the second round.
The other doubles pair of Pranav Chopra and K Tarun had lost its first round encounter on Monday.
