Anaheim (USA): 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 over an hour. 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. In women’s singles, Rituparna Das defeated Canada’s Rachel Honderich 21-16, 21-18 and Sri Krishna Priya Kudaravalli beat USA’s Maya Chen 21-13, 21-16.
However, it was curtains for Lakhanee Sarang, Abhishek Yelegar, Sai Uttejitha Rao Chukka, Reshma Karthik and Ruthvika Shivani Gadde. In men’s doubles, Manu Attri and B. Sumeeth Reddy defeated Canada’s Jason Anthony Ho-Shue and Nyl Yakura 21-15, 21-19, while Francis Alwin and Tarun Kona beat local combo of Yan Tuck Chan and Brian Chi Cheng 21-3, 21-10.
Women’s doubles pair of Meghana Jakkampudi and Poorvisha S. Ram defeated Japan’s Rira Kawashima and Saori Ozaki 21-16, 14-21, 21-14, while Manu and Maneesha beat Canadian combo of Nyl Yakura and Brittney Tam 21-13, 21-15 in mixed doubles. Third seed Pranaav Jerry Chopra and N. Sikki Reddy lost 21-19, 19-21, 17-21 to English pair of Ben Lane and Jessica Pugh in mixed doubles.
Fourth seeds Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty too suffered a 21-8, 19-21, 19-21 loss to Kohei Gondo and Tatsuya Watanabe of Japan. Vietnam’s Tuan Duc Do and Nhu Thao Pham ended the campaign of Tarun and Meghana 21-15, 21-17 in another mixed doubles match.
