Korea Open Grand Prix
Jeju (Korea): Commonwealth Games champion P Kashyap advanced to the semifinals of the Korea Open Grand Prix Gold badminton tournament after edging past Korea’s Jeon Hyeok Jin in a three-game thriller here today.
Kashyap, who is on a comeback trail after recovering his fitness following a long injury lay-off, defeated sixth seed Jin 18-21 21-8 21-16 in a nearly one-hour men’s singles contest of the USD 120,000 event here.
The London Olympics quarter-finalist will face Korean top seed Son Wan Ho in the semifinals.
Kashyap blew a 9-5 and 11-8 lead at one stage to allow Jin make a comeback and draw parity at 11-11. The Korean managed to take a lead of 19-14 lead. The Indian did narrow down the gap to 18-19 but could not stop Jin from pocketing the opening game.
Kashyap got back his bearing in the second game as he dished out a superlative performance to jump to a 6-1 lead early on and then surged to 10-3 and then to 15-8. He then reeled off six straight points to win the second game and bounce back into the match.
In the decider, Jin changed his gears and zoomed to a 9-3 lead but Kashyap showed tremendous grit as he crafted his way back to draw level at 11-11 and grab a 13-11 lead.
After a few tight rallies, it was the Indian who had the last laugh as he rode on a five-point burst to win the deciding game and seal the issue.
In other bouts of the evening, Manish (60kg) of SSCB set up a second-round clash with World Championships bronze-medallist Shiva Thapa after winning his opening bout against Telangana’s Lalit Kishore. (PTI)
