NEW DELHI: Parupalli Kashyap exorcised his demons by rallying to down former All England champion Muhammad Hafiz Hashim (Malaysia) 19-21, 21-19, 21-16 to march into men’s singles semifinals in badminton at Siri Fort Stadium on Monday. It was 24-year-old Kashyap’s day. He was brilliant, aggressive and resilient. “This year I have always lost the match if I lose the first set. I’m happy that I won in spite of losing the first set,” said Kashyap. Kashyap unleashed full repertoire of strokes to script a famous win. Kashyap runs into second seed Rajiv Ouseph in the semifinals. Chetan Anand and women’s top seed Saina Nehwal joined Kashyap in the semifinal. Saina downed Anna Rice 21-7, 21-10 in 29 minutes, while Anand made short work of Carl Baxter 21-17, 21-7. The third-seeded Indian faces top seed Lee Chong Wei in the semifinal.
Jwala Gutta had a mixed day. After losing in the mixed doubles, Jwala teamed up with Ashwini Ponnappa to down Oliver Heather and Mariana Agathangelou of England 21-9, 21-14 to enter the women’s doubles semifinals. Earlier, second seed Jwala and V Diju were shocked by the Malaysian crack pair of Keat Kien Koo and Chin Ee Hu 13-21, 19-21. India’s Aditi Mutatkar went down to Wong Mew Choo 8-21, 12-21 in another quarterfinal match.
