Olympics 2012: Parupalli Kashyap qualifies for knockout stage in men's singles

Parupalli Kashyap scored a dominating straight games win over Vietnam's Tien Minh Nguyen to progress to the pre-quarterfinals of the men's singles event of the badminton competition at the London Olympics, here today.

21st ranked Kashyap outplayed his rival, ranked 11 places above him, 21-9 21-14 in the second and final Group D match.

Kashyap topped Group D to make the knockout stage, having beaten Tan Yuhan of Belgium in an earlier Group match.

The Indian played aggressively right from the word go and never let his rival settle.

Kashyap set up points beautifully by opening the court and executed the winners with ease.

In all the Indian took 35 minutes to down his opponent and move to the next stage.

The match featured long rallies with both the players playing some fierce flat shots but it was the Indian who scored points consistently.

Minh tried to claw his way back in the second game but Kasyhap never let the momentum slip and clinched the issue with a cross-court smash to the left of his rival.

Kashyap was delighted with the easy win but rued that his father could not be there to see him dominate the match.

"I expected to win but not that easily. Not that it was an easy game - we had some long rallies and when he gets into his rhythm he can be very dangerous." Kashyap said.

"My dad didn't get a UK visa in time. I don't know what's going on with the British Embassy. I feel really bad. I really wanted him to be here to see me play, especially in a match like this - to see me beat a player like this. I really hope that he'll get here tomorrow."

Talking about his rival Minh today, Kashyap said he was not an easy play to beat and that his strategy worked.

... contd.

ALSO READ

Sachin Tendulkar deserves to play 200 Tests: Brett Lee

India's 2017 U-17 World Cup bid gets support from FIFA vice president

Laxman Sivaramakrishnan replaces May in ICC Cricket Committee

Kolkata Knight Riders face daunting task against Mumbai Indians