Parupalli Kashyap loses Canada Open, settles for silver

Former Commonwealth Games champion Parupalli Kashyap’s impressive run at the Canada Open Super 100 tournament came to an end after he lost a three-game thriller to China’s Li Shi Feng in the men’s singles summit clash here.

Sixth seed Kashyap, who has produced some gritty performances this week, fell short against Feng, going down 22-20 14-21 17-21 in the finals that clocked an hour and 16 minutes.

“Silver it is @yonexcanadaopen. It was a good fight in the final. Lost to LiShifeng (China) … Can’t say it was the best I played this week but overall it was a good week here. Thank you to all the fans for the support. Thank you to @prannoy_hs_ for extending his stay just to help me out. Next up US open at LA. Until next time Calgary! Cheers !!!,” Kashyap tweeted.

Fellow shuttler HS Prannoy had stayed back to help Kashyap with on-court coaching and also acted as a physio after coach Amrish Shinde and physio Sumansh Sivalanka had to leave early for the US Open World Tour Super 300 tournament.

A former top-10 player, Kashyap, who has been struggling with injuries for the last few years, seemed quite fit as he played three-game matches against China’s Ren Peng Bo, France’s Lucas Claerbout and Chinese Taipei’s Wang Tzu Wei in the run-up to the final.
Kashyap had reached the semifinals of the India Open early this year and the final finish at Canada Open is his best performance of the season.