India's Parupalli Kashyap entered the Korea Open BWF World Tour Super 500 in Incheon on Thursday. The 33-year-old Kashyap, the only Indian still in contention in this tournament, won his men's singles second round match over Malaysian Daren Liew 21-17 11-21 21-12 in just under an hour.
Performance in this tournament will bring back the confidence and belief for the world No. 30 Kashyap that he still belongs to the highest level despite being in his 30s and having been in and out of action frequently due to injuries in the last couple of years.
Missing tournaments and not performing to his optimum also meant Kashyap dropping down in rankings. Having begun the year at 44th, Kashyap has been working his way up to now 30th, a rise of 5 places from the previous week, and a climb of 25 places if one looked at his 55th rank during March this year.
Kashyap is doing all that is required to reach the top, where he once belonged and even achieved a career-best ranking of sixth in the early 2013 when he was perhaps at his best.
The 2014 Glasgow Commonwealth Games winner knows that he may not be climbing to as high as his personal best rank but is not ruling out anything on the badminton court.
He would look at this tournament as a comeback of sorts. "I am trying hard to play well and maintain some continuity from the previous tournaments," Kashyap told DNA.
One cannot judge if a shuttler is playing well just going by his results. It is what the shuttlers feel how they are playing and moving on the court and know where they are capable of improving. Kashyap is in a similar position today.
Though he has been a regular on the circuit this year, he has been exiting in the first and second rounds consistently. His best performance in the year, though, came in the Canada Open in July when he finished second best to Chinese Li Shi Feng and also entered the semifinals of the India Open.
Because of his drop in rankings, he also had to go through the qualification rounds to enter the main draw of certain tournaments.
Last week, he lost in the second round of China Open to Indonesia's Anthony Sinisuka Ginting in three tough games. "I was playing well and was on game point in the first, then won the second but in the third, could not match his speed," Kashyap had said.
Speed is what Kashyap is working on, among other things. And, he will not be facing Ginting against this week, though drawn in the same half. Kashyap will face Denmark's Jan O Jorgensen on Friday for a place in the semifinal.
Jorgensen defeated eighth-seeded Ginting in one of the other second round matches on Thursday, also in three games, 17-21 21-16 21-13 in 58 minutes.
Kashyap was in his elements against Liew on Thursday. After initial exchange of serves, Kashyap kept himself ahead of the Malaysian in the first game, taking the break at 11-8 and maintained the lead to win the game 21-17.
In the second, though, Kashyap was not in control. Liew was way ahead, winning 13 consecutive points, from 0-2 down to 13-2. There was no climbing up for Kashyap in the game but to conserve his energy in the third and tire out the Malaysian.
It just went as per Kashyap's plan and seemed like payback time. Having started on even terms, Kashyap won 11 consecutive points from 1-2 to 12-2. It was no looking back for Kashyap, who finished the formalities and book his place in the last eight.
This is Kashyap's best show in this particular tournament after having not gone beyond the second round in the past dating back to 2006 when it was an International Series and then became Superseries in 2007.
Against Jorgensen, who played a tiring game against Ginting, Kashyap has a 2-4 win-loss record though the last time they came face to face, the Indian won in the quarterfinals of 2014 Denmark Open.
Kashyap will be hoping that history repeats itself in their second clash in the quarterfinal round. The other five encounters have either been in the first or second rounds.
Result (Rd 2, Indians only): Men's singles: Parupalli Kashyap bt Daren Liew (MAL) 21-17 11-21 21-12
Playing Today (quarterfinals): Kashyap vs Jan O Jorgensen (DEN)
MATCH STATS
Liew
|
|
Kashyap
|
| 13 |
Most consecutive points |
11 |
| 4 |
Game points |
3 |
| 103 |
Total points played |
103 |
| 50 |
Total points won |
53 |
