Lee Chong Wei ends Parupalli Kashyap’s gallant run in Men’s Singles category at London Olympics
Malaysia’s top seeded shuttler Lee Chong Wei showed an expected performance and ended the gallant run of India’s talented player Parupalli Kashyap in Men’s Singles quarter-final at London Olympics 2012 on Thursday, August 2, in London.
Chong Wei, who is World Number Two at the moment, had to play at his best to overpower his lower ranked Indian opponent who played superb badminton but failed to escape defeat from the hands of his Malaysian rival.
The higher ranked Malaysian shuttler played a slightly quivering badminton in opening set but he showed his class in the second game and registered a reasonable victory over his Indian opponent in straight games with a margin of 21-19 and 21-11.
According to Chong Wei, the Indian shuttler played well and has made a wonderful improvement in his game as compared to their last meeting in Which Kashyap was not that good.
On the other hand, the World Number 21 Kashyap played to his best abilities as he remained close to his opponent all the way in the opening set but remained unlucky in finding elevation at the concluding phase and lost it. However, he failed to produce better
form in the second game and bowed down to Chong Wei in two sets.
After the match Chong Wei appreciated the performance of his Indian rival.
He stated, “I must give credit to Kashyap as he stretched me in the first set. He has improved much from the last I played him at the Danish Open.”
The Malaysian hero will take on China’s Chen Long in the Men’s Singles semi-final and he said that a good fight at quarter-final against Kashyap will serve him well against his Chinese challenger.
He further added, “It was good that I have a tough match before playing Chen Long as this suits my preparations. Although he was leading for a larger part of the first set, I never had a doubt that I will win the set. It was a question of nerves and mine
held better.”
The quarter-final was a good test for Chong Wei as it showed that he has gained confidence and has got rid of the mental effects of his ankle injury that disturbed his chances of winning a gold medal in the mega event.
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