The Indian juggernaut in men’s badminton continued to roll on with former Commonwealth Games gold medallist Parupalli Kashyap setting up a title date with H.S. Prannoy at the $120,000 US Open Grand Prix Gold here.
After limping out of the court with a calf injury in October in 2015, it was the first final for Kashyap in 21 months, while Prannoy, who has always been plagued by injuries, also reached his first summit clash after clinching the Swiss Open last year.
Kashyap eked out a hard-fought 15-21, 21-15, 21-16 win over Korean Kwang Hee Heo in a semifinal which lasted 66 minutes. Prannoy, on the other hand, notched up a 21-14, 21-19 victory over Vietnam’s Tien Minh Nguyen in his last four clash that was played for 40 minutes.
It will be the second time this season that two Indians will fight it out for the title in international final. In April, K. Srikanth and B. Sai Praneeth had played in the finals of Singapore Open with the latter claiming his maiden Super Series title.
Both Kashyap and Prannoy have won a match each in their two previous meetings but haven’t faced each other on the international circuit since the second round of the German Open in 2014.
Doubles team loses
The men’s pair of Manu Attri and B. Sumeeth Reddy fought hard before going down 21-12, 12-21, 22-20 to top seeds Lu Ching Yao and Yang Po Han.
“It is good to reach a final after a long time. It was a tough match against the Korean. He had started really well and I took time to adjust to the conditions today as it was little slow. He was really patient and he was hitting hard smashes. But slowly I got a good rhythm and eventually I could pull off,” said Kashyap.
It will be third Grand Prix Gold title for Indian men’s shuttlers after Sameer Verma and Sai Praneeth clinched the Syed Modi International and Thailand Open respectively.
Indian men also won three Superseries titles with Srikanth clinching the Indonesia and Australia Open and Praneeth winning at Singapore.
