Indonesia Open: Kashyap thrash Vittinghus in quarters

Jakarta: India's Parupalli Kashyap came up with another stellar performance after his last match heroics to beat higher-ranked Dane, Hans-Kristian Vittinghus, to enter the men's singles semifinals in the Indonesia Open Super Series Premier badminton event here on Friday.

World No. 26 Kashyap, who stunned top seed Chen Long of China Thursday, took 39 minutes to dispatch a player ranked ten places above him with the final quarterfinal scoreline being 21-15, 21-14.

The 25-year-old now meets local hope Simon Santoso, who beat countryman Dionysius Hayom Rumbaka 21-17, 21-7.

A spring in Kashyap's stride was apparent after the thumping win against the Chinese. He was unstoppable in the opening game against Vittinghus, hitting a remarkable 17 smashes.
Similar happened in the second game as the Dane found it hard to contain Kashyap.

National coach Pullela Gopichand, who watched the match from the sidelines, said Kashyap's performance once gain reaffirmed that he was capable of beating the top players.

"It was very difference match from yesterday (against Chen). Today, he led through out the match and was confident with his strokes. With the Chinese, you have to attack all the time but with Vittinghus he could also defend. He made good use of the court and the win yesterday has certainly given him a big boost," Gopichand told IANS.

Kashyap has qualified for the London Games alongside India's top player Saina Nehwal.

Asked whether the performance here would bolster Kashyap's chances in the Olympics, Gopichand said: "Lets not think ahead of time. He is playing really well at the moment and is fully fit. Having said that, he is growing in confidence with victories against top-10 players."

Later in the day, Saina takes on China's Shixian Wang in the women's singles quarterfinals. (IANS)