Experienced campaigners P Kashyap and HS Prannoy registered contrasting wins to stay on course for a possible summit clash in the US Grand Prix Gold badminton tournament in Anaheim on Friday.
Kashyap, who is making a comeback after a long injury lay-off, defeated compatriot Sameer Verma, seeded fifth, 21-13, 21-16 in just 40 minutes to continue his good run of form. The world number 59, who had accounted for the top seed Lee Hyun Il in the opening round, will now face Korea’s Kwang Hee Heo for a place in the final.
Later in the day, Prannoy rallied from a game down to beat eighth seed Kanta Tsuneyama 10-21, 21-15, 21-18 in exactly an hour to reach the last four stage. The second seed will now meet Vietnam veteran Tien Minh Nguyen.
The combination of Manu Atri and B Sumeeth Reddy also kept India’s title hopes alive in men’s doubles with a 21-18 22-20 win over Hiroki Okamura and Masayuki Onodera of Japan. The third seeds will now face top seeds Lu Ching Yao and Yang Po Han of Chinese Taipei.
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