Taipei: Former Commonwealth Games gold medallist Parupalli Kashyap advanced into the quarterfinals while Priyanshu Rajawat, Mithun Manjunath and Kiran George went out in the second round of men’s singles in the Taipei Open 2022 here on Thursday.
Kashyap, the third seed, defeated Chinese Taipei’s Chia Hao Lee 21-10 21-19 in a 36-minute encounter while Rajawat went down 21-19 21-13 to local star Chen Chi Ting in straight games. Manjunath won the first game 24-22 but lost the next two 21-5, 21-17 to go down in three games against Japan’s Kodai Naraoka.
Kiran George gave top seed Chen Tien Chou of Chinese Taipei a scare before losing 21-23, 21-16, 7-21 in three games in the second round of the BWF World Tour Super 300 event.
In women’s singles, Samiya Imad Farooqi of India lost to Wen Chi Hsu of Chinese Taipei losing 21-18, and 21-13 in the event with a prize fund of USD 500,000.
Sixth seeds Ishaan Bhatnagar and Tanisha Crasto too made it to the quarterfinals of mixed doubles beating Chinese Taipei’s Cheng Kai Wen of Wang Yu Qiao 21-14, 21-17. In women’s doubles, Tanisha Crasto and Shruti Mishra lost to Jia Yin Lin and Lin Yu-Hao of Chinese Taipei 21-14, 21-8.
Kashyap was the lone Indian remaining in contention in men’s singles after beating Chia Hao Lee by a comfortable 21-10, 21-19 margin.
The third seed took lead early in the first game, and continued to in the same vein, piling on the points easily. From 0-1, he won five consecutive points to go 4-1 up and jumped from 10-6 to 15-6 as he managed to keep ahead.
In the second game, Chai Hao Lee put up a big fight as he won the first three points. But Kashyap soon took control of the match and came close to 17-18 before the Indian star went on to win the match in 36 minutes.
–IANS