Anaheim (USA), July 20:
Commonwealth Games champion Parupalli Kashyap knocked out top seed Lee Hyun Il of Korea in the men’s singles opening round of the US Open Grand Prix Gold badminton tournament here.
On a comeback trail after recovering from a shoulder injury, Kashyap dished out a gritty performance to stave off the challenge from World No. 15 Lee 21-16 10-21 21-19 in a match that lasted an hour and three minutes.
Fifth seed Sameer Verma, who also is making a comeback after recovering from a shoulder problem, made a positive start to his campaign by defeating Vietnam’s Hoang Nam Nguyen 21-5 21-10 in another men’s singles match.
Second seed H S Prannoy, who was in rampaging form at Indonesia Super Series Premier, also reached the second round after beating Austria’s Luka Wraber 21-12 21-16, while Harsheel Dani brushed aside Mexico’s Arturo Hernandez 21-13 21-9 in another match.(PTI)
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