Kashyap exits, Saina progresses

India’s top men shuttler Parupalli Kashyap suffered a shock loss against an old nemesis in the pre-quarterfinals of the Swiss Open Grand Prix Gold here on Thursday.

Kashyap, on the day he reached his career-best ranking of World No 7, went down to Malaysian ninth seed Wei Feng Chong 21-18, 7-21, 16-21 in a match that lasted 55 minutes. The London Olympics quarterfinalist on Wednesday night edged out German Dieter Domke 15-21, 22-20, 21-13 in the second round.

H S Prannoy and P V Sindhu also crashed out in the pre-quarterfinals. Prannoy lost to Tien Chen Chou of Chinese Taipei 16-21, 21-15, 15-21 while Sindhu was beaten by Yui Hashimoto of Japan 23-21, 21-11.

Indian men’s doubles pair of Pranaav Jerry Chopra and Akshay Dewalkar went down to top seeds Sung Hyun Ko and Yong Dae Lee of Korea 21-14, 21-12 in the second round.

Top seed Saina Nehwal, who regained her second place in the world ranking on Thursday, prevailed over Sashina Vignes Waran of France 13-21, 21-15, 21-12 in a 47-minute encounter.