Kashyap keeps London dreams alive in Indian Open
27 April 2012 2:25 AM IST
Locked in a battle of qualification for the London Olympics, compatriots P Kashyap and Ajay Jayaram witnessed contrasting results with the former scripting a resounding win and the latter suffering a close defeat in the India Open Super Series Badminton here today.
Lagging in the reckoning for London Games by over 1000 points, Kashyap dug deep into his reserves and produced a scintillating performance to notch up a come-from-behind 15-21 21-14 22-20 over Thailand's Boonsak Ponsana.
He will now have to win his quarterfinal battle with Chen Jin to qualify for the Olympics.
While Kashyap fought on court no 2, his friend Jayaram was locked in a battle with world number one Lee Chong Wei of Malaysian on the adjacent court and even though the Indian played his heart out, he couldn't avoid a 21-16 15-21 21-5 defeat to crash out of the tournament.
World number 30 Kashyap lagged behind 2-7 in the first game and even though the Indian battled hard and narrowed the gap to 14-15, the Thai player raced away with the game.
However, Kashyap didn't lose heart and kept pushing hard at his opponent, whom he had beaten twice in the past. His perseverance reaped dividends as he caught up with the Thai at 5-5 and then broke off at 9-9 to roar back into the match.
Locked 1-1, the decider turned into a tooth and nail battle as both the shuttlers went neck and neck from 7-7 to 18-18, before Boonsak registered two quick points to earn the match point at 20-18.
But a lapse of concentration from Boonsak helped Kashyap to save two match points and also earn a match point at 21-20 and once the Thai hit the shuttle out, the crowd burst into a vociferous celebration.
"My confidence was down after first game loss. I wanted to put pressure on him but he was breaking my rhythm by playing too many variations through out the match. Because of his change in tactics, I too had to change my game. But I held my nerves in the end," Kashyap said.
Lagging in the reckoning for London Games by over 1000 points, Kashyap dug deep into his reserves and produced a scintillating performance to notch up a come-from-behind 15-21 21-14 22-20 over Thailand's Boonsak Ponsana.
He will now have to win his quarterfinal battle with Chen Jin to qualify for the Olympics.
While Kashyap fought on court no 2, his friend Jayaram was locked in a battle with world number one Lee Chong Wei of Malaysian on the adjacent court and even though the Indian played his heart out, he couldn't avoid a 21-16 15-21 21-5 defeat to crash out of the tournament.
World number 30 Kashyap lagged behind 2-7 in the first game and even though the Indian battled hard and narrowed the gap to 14-15, the Thai player raced away with the game.
However, Kashyap didn't lose heart and kept pushing hard at his opponent, whom he had beaten twice in the past. His perseverance reaped dividends as he caught up with the Thai at 5-5 and then broke off at 9-9 to roar back into the match.
Locked 1-1, the decider turned into a tooth and nail battle as both the shuttlers went neck and neck from 7-7 to 18-18, before Boonsak registered two quick points to earn the match point at 20-18.
But a lapse of concentration from Boonsak helped Kashyap to save two match points and also earn a match point at 21-20 and once the Thai hit the shuttle out, the crowd burst into a vociferous celebration.
"My confidence was down after first game loss. I wanted to put pressure on him but he was breaking my rhythm by playing too many variations through out the match. Because of his change in tactics, I too had to change my game. But I held my nerves in the end," Kashyap said.
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