ANAHEIM (USA), July 20: Commonwealth Games champion Parupalli Kashyap knocked out top seed Lee Hyun Il of Korea in the men�s singles opening round of the US Open Grand Prix Gold badminton tournament here.
On a comeback trail after recovering from a shoulder injury, Kashyap dished out a gritty performance to stave off the challenge from World No. 15 Lee 21-16, 10-21, 21-19 in a match that lasted an hour and three minutes.
Fifth seed Sameer Verma, who also is making a comeback after recovering from a shoulder problem, made a positive start to his campaign by defeating Vietnam�s Hoang Nam Nguyen 21-5, 21-10 in another men�s singles match.
Second seed HS Prannoy, who was in rampaging form at Indonesia Super Series Premier, also reached the second round after beating Austria�s Luka Wraber 21-12, 21-16, while Harsheel Dani brushed aside Mexico�s Arturo Hernandez 21-13, 21-9 in another match.
World No. 59 Kashyap will face Hungary�s Gergely Krausz, former National champion Sameer will take on Crotia�s Zvonimir Durkinjak, Prannoy will meet Ireland�s Joshua Magee and Dani will square off against Vietnam�s Tien Minh Nguyen.
In women�s singles, Rituparna Das defeated Canada�s Rachel Honderich 21-16, 21-18 and Sri Krishna Priya Kudaravalli beat USA�s Maya Chen 21-13, 21-16.
However, it was curtains for Lakhanee Sarang, Abhishek Yelegar, Sai Uttejitha Rao Chukka, Reshma Karthik and Ruthvika Shivani Gadde.
Lakhanee lost 16-21, 13-21 to Kenta Nishimoto of Japan, Abhishek suffered a narrow 17-21, 21-16, 13-21 loss to third seed Brice Leverdez of France and Netherlands� Gayle Mahulette ended Sai Uttejitha Rao�s campaign 23-25, 21-13, 21-16.
Ruthvika also put up a gallant fight before losing 14-21, 27-25, 16-21 to Japan�s Aya Ohori and Reshma�s fight too ended with a heart-breaking 21-12, 16-21, 15-21 loss against Sofie Holmboe Dahl of Denmark in the opening round. � PTI
