CHANGZHOU (CHINA): Former Commonwealth Games champion shuttler Parupalli Kashyap fought hard before going down in the men's singles pre-quarterfinals of the USD 150,000 China Masters Grand Prix Gold, here today.
Kashyap lost 10-21 22-20 13-21 to former World No. 6 and third seed Qiao Bin of China in a contest which lasted an hour and 16 minutes at the Olympic sports center.
The tournament was Kashyap's return to competitive badminton after recovering from a shoulder injury. He had suffered the injury during the Premier Badminton League (PBL) in January.
Harsheel Dani remains the sole Indian in fray in the tournament and will play another Chinese Sun Feixiang in the pre-quarterfinals of the men's singles event later in the day.
India's campaign in women's singles has already ended with the ouster of Sai Uttejitha Rao Chukka and Sri Krishna Priya Kudaravalli.