Hong Kong Open Super Series: Lin Dan digs deep to get rid of Parupalli Kashyap in the first round
China’s most successful shuttler, Lin Dan had to dig deep to pass the first hurdle as he defeated India’s spirited shuttler, Parupalli Kashyap in the Men’s Singles first round of the 2011 Hong Kong Open Super Series, in Hong Kong, on Wednesday, November
16.
The ruling World Champion and Olympic gold medallist, Lin, who is World Number Three at the moment, had to employ everything he had to chuck out the Indian in a thrilling rubber-set match. The Chinese won the battle after putting up wonderful show of positive
badminton for 66 minutes.
Lin, who is regarded as the best shuttler of all times faced a hostile treatment from the hands of the Indian ace Kashyap in the first game. However, the higher ranked Chinese recovered his form and won remaining both games to stride into the second round
of the event.
The match started with the aggressive approach of the Indian who played with wonderful precision and missed no chance to earn points. Lin played relaxed game in the opening set which provided his opponent with an opportunity to establish a comfortable lead
in the first half.
After the interval, the Indian remained on the right track by playing flawless badminton. Lin failed to bridge the huge gap as he committed many unforced errors. The third seed Chinese lost the first set with a good margin of 16-21.
In the following set, the fight remained close in the opening points. This time Lin was quicker in taking the bird and maintained the pace of rallies at highest level. Kashyap remained close until the interval in the second game.
However, after the break, the Chinese injected power in his strokes and started to play attacking badminton. Lin spared no chance for Kashyap to recover from the deficit as his strokes were landing in the perfect areas. The Chinese took the second set with
a reasonable margin of 21-17.
In the decider, the third seed Chinese remained in superb control from the opening points of the match. He continued his roller-coaster run in this game as Kashyap failed to match the speed of the rallies. The Indian played negative game in this deciding
set which helped the Chinese to win it with a 21-14 score.
Lin emerged as the winner of this rubber-set match in 66 minutes with an overall result of 16-21, 21-17 and 21-14.
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