Indonesian Open : P Kashyap stuns World No.1, Saina Nehwal ousted

JakartaOn a bittersweet day for IndiaParupalli Kashyap rallied to shock World No 1 Chen Long toenter the mens singles semifinals even as Saina Nehwal bowedout with a quarterfinal loss to familiar foe Wang Shixian inthe Indonesian Open Super Series badminton tournament heretodayWang Shixian R looks through the net as Saina Nehwal L fails to returnduring their quarterfinal rounds of Indonesia Open badminton tournament in Jakarta on Friday PicAFPKashyap ranked 12th in the world came from behind tobeat the top seed Chinese 1421 2117 2114 in a contest thatlasted an hour and three minutes He will take on thirdseededDane Jan O JorgensenBig win today Thru to semis now Keep supportingKahsyap tweetedHowever Saina who has won this tournament thrice in hercareer went down 2116 1221 1821 to old foe Wang Shixian ofChina in a 69minute battle This was the 13th faceoffbetween the two and Wang has a 76 overall lead nowKashyap was the first to take the court today and refusedto be intimidated by the prospect of facing the worldnumber oneThe Commonwealth goldmedallist Indian was consistentwith his smashes and impeccable with his net play against hismore fancied opponentComing into this match Long had a 71 headtoheadrecord against Kashyap The numero uno shuttler over the lasttwo years has emerged as Chinas successor to the incomparableLin DanIncidentally Kashyaps last victory against Long came inthis very tournament in 2012In what was a classic David vs Goliath battle Kashyapused all his resources to overcome his rivalOne of the fastest movers and hardest hitters in theworld Long failed to counter Kashyaps odd precise smashesand started committing unforced errorsIn the opening game Kashyap was hardly a match to Longwho not only opened up a 62 lead but consistently movedaheadKashyap caught up with him on a couple of occasions butonce the Chinese broke away from a tied 1111 position to1611 there was no looking back for him Long comfortablysealed the first game 2114The second game went neckandneck till 77 before theIndian managed to take a slight lead and hold on to theadvantage always keeping his nose aheadEven though the experienced Chinese kept breathing downhis neck Kashyap wriggled out of some tricky situations totake the game to the deciderIn the third game Kashyap broke away from tied 22 totake a 93 lead even as Long committed too many unforcederrors hitting wide and long to hand over a massive 145 leadto the IndianIn the end it was a cakewalk for Kashyap who made fulluse of his chances to sail throughParupalli Kashyap Pic AFPSaina snatched the momentum quite early as she raced to a115 lead and built on it quite aggressively to clinch theopening game in 30 minutesBut the experienced Wang roared back in the second gameto draw level and make the battle interestingSaina had the initial edge in the decider grabbing a 63lead but Wang did not allow her to run away with it by makingit 66A seesaw battle followed and the two players were locked88 before Saina nosed ahead with a 1510 lead However Wangfought back yet again to draw level at 1515 and 1717The Chinese star took the lead from there on and held hernerves to outwit the Indian who has triumphed here in 2009 2010 and 2012