Kashyap, Sourabh enter pre-quarterfinals of Canada Open

Calgary, July 4: Former Commonwealth Games champion Parupalli Kashyap and reigning national champion Sourabh Verma progressed to the pre-quarterfinals in a mixed day for India at the USD 75,000 Canada Open Super 100 tournament in Calgary, Canada.

Kashyap, seeded sixth, defeated France's Lucas Corvee 21-12 21-17, while Sourabh thrashed Canada's B R Sankeerth 21-14 21-11 in another men's singles match.

Kashyap, who had reached the semifinals at India Open this year, will next meet China's Ren Peng Bo, while 26-year-old Sourabh, who had won titles in Russia and the Netherlands last year, faces another Chinese Sun Fei Xiang.

It turned out to be a forgetful day for other Indians in fray as Ajay Jayaram, HS Prannoy and Lakshya Sen - all bowed out of the competition after losing their respective matches.

While Jayaram went down 19-21 17-21 to 2010 Commonwealth Games silver medallist Rajiv Ouseph of England, third seed Prannoy was no match for Koki Watanabe of Japan, losing 16-21 10-21 in 34 minutes and Lakshya was outclassed by China's Weng Hong Yang 7-21 13-21.

The Indian trio will hope to do well at the US Open BWF World Tour Super 300 event to be held from July 9 to 14.