Kashyap storms into quarters

London : Parupalli Kashyap flirted with danger before etching a small piece of history in the Olympic Games badminton tournament on Wednesday while compatriot Saina Nehwal confidently marched into the quarterfinals in the women’s singles.

At the Wembley Arena, Kashyap became the first Indian man to reach the quarterfinals at the Games, defeating Sri Lanka’s Niluka Karunaratne 21-14, 15-21, 21-9 in the last-16 match.

Kashyap’s coach P Gopichand had been the previous best Indian performer, losing in the pre-quarters at the Sydney Olympic Games in 2000.

In the women’s draw, Saina defeated Yao Jie of the Netherlands 21-14, 21-16 in the pre-quarterfinals to match her Beijing Olympic Games performance.

Saina was hardly troubled by the Dutchwoman in the first game. Looking fit, sharp and eager, the fourth seed clinched the first game before Jie put up some resistance in the second. She stayed with the Indian in the rallies and cashed in on her errors before Saina decided to end the entertainment, tightening up her play and coming through.

Saina, who is in the same half of the draw as world number one Wang Yihan of China, will next meet the winner of the match between Tine Baun of Denmark and Sato Sayaka of Japan.

Kashyap was in control and seemingly in cruise mode when he won the first game but he lapsed into a series of errors in the second game, allowing the Sri Lankan back into the match. But a change in tactics helped him recover in the decider as he thwarted Nilukaratne’s designs with some smart play.

“It was like I was continuing from where I left off in the last match. I was in good form and playing well but in the second, he started retrieving everything. The other side of the court was also a bit slower and that was why I was struggling,” said Kashyap. “Luckily, I was able to change my game plan on time and engage with him in rallies to win through,” he added.

Karunaratne, who likes to unleash a fiery smash at every opportunity, led 6-1 in the first game but Kashyap drew level and moved ahead. He kept Karunaratne on a tight leash, moving him around and earning points with sweet drops, placements and smashes to pocket the game.

It was never easy for the Indian in the second as the Sri Lankan retrieved everything thrown at him, and succeeded in inducing errors. Kashyap also lapsed into unforced errors and made several mistakes in judgement. Karunaratne grabbed the gifts with glee and the Indian looked clueless.

“I was feeling tired as he was retrieving everything,” Kashyap said later. “As the other side of the court was slower, my smashes too weren’t effective but I decided to stay with him in rallies and that helped me,” he said.

Kashyap’s recovery started late in the second game itself, as he won five points in a row from 10-20 to 15-20 before Karunaratne wrapped up the game.

The momentum, however, had shifted in favour of the Indian by then, and he played quite beautifully in the decider. Some excellent net play stood out in the decider and the 66-minute encounter ended with a Karunaratne forehand sailing wide.

Kashyap’s opponent in the quarterfinals will be top seed Lee Chong Wei of Malaysia who defeated Simon Santoso of Indonesia 21-12, 21-8 in his first round match. “It is a good chance. Every round it gets tougher. If I can pull it off it will be nice,” said the Hyderabadi.

Kashyap has played Lee only once, in the Denmark Open last year, and had lost that encounter in straight games.