China Open Premier Super Series: Kenichi Tago beats Parupalli Kashyap in Men’s Singles first round
Japan’s Kenichi Tago has secured his berth in the Men’s Singles round-of-16 as he has defeated India’s Parupalli Kashyap in the first round of the 2011 Li Ning China Open Premier Super Series, at Shanghai, China, on Wednesday, November 23.
Tago, who is currently World Number 16, has been playing competitive badminton for the last ten months. He played terrific badminton in his first head-to-head meeting with Kashyap and emerged as the winner in this opening encounter.
The Japanese worked well for 46 minutes to make his mark over the Indian in a straight-set contest. Both shuttlers played top quality badminton however, the Indian played negative badminton in both games at the concluding points and consequently lost the
match.
In the first game of this first-round battle, both men remained close in opening points. Nevertheless, Tago managed to dictate the rallies by playing fast game. He put pressure on his opponent and reached at a comfortable position of 11-7 until the break.
After the break, the Indian put up incredible show of attacking badminton as he scored seven consecutive points to reach at 14-11. Tago levelled the score by reaching at 16-16. At this stage, Kashyap lost his focus and dropped his speed which helped Tago
to score four consecutive points. The Japanese finished the game with a 21-17 margin on the board.
In the second game, the starting rallies grabbed the attention of the crowd as both shuttlers played aggressive badminton. However, Tago started to build an early lead by increasing his speed at the net. His net play was just perfect which put the Indian
in trouble as he failed to find opportunities to play attacking game. Until the break, Tago was going ahead at 11-7.
After the interval, the Indian played better but no enough to bridge the huge gap. The Japanese continued his positive play and remained successful in taking the second game easily with a difference of 21-16. This first-round contest went in the favour of
Tago, who won it in straight sets by taking 46 minutes with a 21-17 and 21-16 margin of the score board.
Tags: