New Delhi: London Olympics quarterfinalist, Parupalli Kashyap showed nerves of steel to notch up a hard-fought three-game victory over seventh seed Vietnamese Tien Minh Nguyen to reach the final eight of the China Super Series in Shanghai on Thursday.
The world number 23 Indian recovered after dropping the first game to see off Tien 12-21, 22-20, 21-14 in an hour and nine-minute match in the men’s singles competition.
He will next take on China’s Zhengming Wang in the quarters on Friday.
Kashyap, who had beaten Tien in the London Olympics in August, could not get his act together in the opening game and was left doing a catch-up job as the World Number 11 Tien closed it comfortably without being threatened much.
In the second game, too, the Commonwealth Games bronze medallist was lagging 1-5 but he then made a strong come back, reeling off seven straight points to open up a five-point lead over Tien.
The Vietnamese caught up at 17-17 and moved to 20-20, but the Indian quickly notched up two points to roar back into the contest.
In the decider, Kashyap went into the break at 11-8 after fighting tooth and nail and though Tien stepped up the heat, the Indian kept his nose ahead and eventually cemented his place in the last-eight comfortably.
Among other Indians, Pranaav Jerry Chopra and Siki Reddy N lost their doubles match 21-11, 21-15 in just 24 minutes. Tarun Kona and Arun Vishnu also lost 21, 8-21. (PTI)