P Kashyap advances to meet Chen Long in quarter-final of the 2011 Thailand Open Grand Prix Gold
India’s P Kashyap is set to meet China’s Chen Long in the Men’s Singles quarter-final of the 2011 Thailand Open Grand Prix Gold, after the former shuttler defeated Mohamad Arif Abdul Latif of Malaysia in the pre-quarterfinal of the event held in Bangkok,
on June 9.
World Number 23, P Kashyap, who is also the fourteenth seed in the event, dug deep into his reserves to beat Arif Latif, in an entertaining three-set match.
Kashyap, who is India’s top seed in the Men’s Singels category, was successful in building pressure on his opponent in the initial stage of the match. He started the game in a thrilling manner and established a comfortable gap by playing positive badminton.
Arif Latif, who is currently the World Number 98 in the Men’s Singles rankings, was nervous against the spirited Indian who playing a far better game in the entire set of the match. Kashyap winded up the opening set in a superb way with a 21-16 margin, in
19 minutes.
The Malaysian gained momentum in the second game, as he started to play with precision. His powerful down the line smashes pushed the Indian on the back foot. In the ending points of the second game, the Indian missed some easy opportunities and lost the
set by a narrow difference of 19-21, in 22 minutes.
In the final set of this superb encounter, Kashyap proved that he is a better act than the Malaysian. He quickly established a wonderful lead of 11-5 in the opening half of the deciding set. Arif Latif failed to cope up with the speed of the Indian, who
was perfect in his execution of strokes.
Kashyap was moving in the court with a considerable ease and his strokes perfectly landed on the targeted areas. He finished up the final set with a remarkable margin of 21-12, in 17 minutes. The 58-minute match ended with the result of 21-16, 19-21 and
21-12.
In the quarter-final of the event, Kashyap will be up against the top seed, Chen Long, who thrashed Brice Leverdez of France in straight games.
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