Korea Open Badminton: Kashyap storms into semifinals

Bengaluru, September 27: India's Parupalli Kashyap stormed into the semifinal of $400,000 Korea Open badminton tournament with 24-22, 21-8 win over Denmark's wold No. 23 Jan 0 Jorgensen.

For a place in the final, Kashyap will take on Japan's world No.1 Kento Momota who beat Malaysia's Lee Zee Jia 21-15, 21-19 in another last-eight encounter at Incheon Airport Skydome courts.

With the opening round exits of PV Sindhu, Saina Nehwal and B Sai Praneeth, Kashyap was the lone Indian remaining in the fray of the Badminton World Federation (BWF) sanctioned Super 500 tournament being currently held in Korean city of Incheon.

Parupalli Kashyap (@parupallik) defeated Jan O Jorgensen 24-22 21-8 to book a semi-final date with world number 1 Kento Momota at #KoreaOpenSuper500 https://t.co/CxFADhAZ4W

— News18 Sports (@News18Sports) September 27, 2019

World champion Sindhu lost 7-21, 24-22, 15-21 to Beiwen Zhang of United States in her opening-round match, while London Olympics bronze-medallist Saina was trailing 21-19, 18-21, 1-8 against South Korea's Kim Ga Eun when she was forced to retire due to illness.

World Championship men's singles bronze-medallist Praneeth too retired when he was trailing 9-21, 7-11 against Denmark's Anders Antonsen.

In the quarterfinal's first game, the Hyderabadi was made to sweat by the former world No. 2. However, Kashyap, kept his cool and won the game 24-22 in 21 minutes.

The 33-year-old came out with a flawless performance in the second game which he won 21-8 as the match ended in just 37 minutes.