Taipei: Indian shuttler Parupalli Kashyap beat Chi Yu Jen of Chinese Taipei to advance to the second round of the Taipei Open 2022, here on Wednesday.
Kashyap, 40th in the badminton world rankings, beat world No 122 Chi Yu Jen 24-22, 21-10 in the first round of the BWF Super 300 badminton tournament.
The 35-year old Kashyap was cruising in the first game with a 15-8 lead but had to thwart a late comeback by saving two game points. The second game, however, was a straightforward affair.
The former Commonwealth Games champion will take on world No 97 Chia Hao Lee of Chinese Taipei in the second round on Thursday.
India’s Thomas Cup team member Priyanshu Rajawat and an in-form Mithun Manjunath also won their first-round matches. World No 84 Priyanshu beat youngster Yu Sheng Po 21-16, 21-15 while Mithun Manjunath beat Denmark’s Kim Bruun 21-17, 21-15 to move into the second round of the BWF Super 300 badminton tournament.
Meanwhile, Kiran George went past Ade Resky Dwicahyo of Azerbaijan 23-21, 21-17 to make the second round of the men’s singles. The men’s doubles pair of MR Arjun-Dhruv Kapila and Ishan Bhatnagar-Sai Pratheek also won their matches to progress.
In the women’s singles, Samiya Imad Farooqui and the doubles pair of Tanisha Crasto and Shruti Mishra moved to the second round but Malvika Bansod lost to Liang Ting Yu of Chinese Taipei 10-21, 21-15, 21-14 to make an early exit.
Earlier, London 2012 bronze medallist Saina Nehwal had pulled out before her first-round match. India’s Commonwealth Games-bound badminton players PV Sindhu, Lakshya Sen and Kidambi Srikanth are also not competing.
–IANS