Shuttler Parupalli Kashyap today became the first Indian man in history to reach the quarter-finals of the Olympic Games after securing a hard-fought 2-1 victory over Sri Lanka's Niluka Karunaratne at the Wembley Arena here.

The 21st ranked Kashyap had to bring in all his experience and craft into play to quell the strong challenge of his rival, ranked 27 places below him in the world chart, 21-14 15-21 21-9 in the pre-quarter final clash that lasted 66 minutes.