India's campaign at the New Zealand badminton Open ended after Ajay Jayaram and Arvind Bhat lost in the quarter-finals of the men's singles, in Auckland, on Friday.
Parupalli Kashyap booked a place in the pre-quarter-finals of the All-England Badminton Championships after a straight games victory over Jen Hao Hsu of Chinese Taipei on Thursday. The world No 9 Indian ace won his first round match 21-17, 21-18 in 43 minutes. He now runs into seventh seed Kenichi Tago of Japan.
Gearing up for the All England Championship, India's top male shuttler P Kashyap said the "challenging" draw does not bother him as he can beat anyone on a given day.
India's Ajay Jayaram kept his nose ahead of compatriot P Kashyap for the London Olympics qualification as he notched a straight-game victory in the first round of Asia Badminton Championships in Qingdao, China, on Tuesday. Jayaram was the only bright spot on a gloomy day for India as the rest of the country's shuttlers failed to cross the first hurdle at the Qingdao Sports Centre Conson stadium.
Ace shuttlers Chetan Anand and Arvind Bhat reached the pre-quarter-finals of men's singles at the Macau Open Grand Prix in China on Wednesday after contrasting victories even though it was curtains for four other Indians.
India's Parupalli Kashyap played one of the longest matches of his career as he roared into the prequarterfinals.
P V Sindhu stormed into the quarter-finals, while Parupalli Kashyap and K Srikanth also advanced to the last eight stage after posting contrasting victories in the Denmark Open Super Series Badminton Premier, in Odense.
World No. 1 Saina Nehwal started her campaign with a hard-fought win, while P V Sindhu eased past her opponent at the $200,000 Badminton Asia Championship.
Commonwealth Games gold medallist Parupalli Kashyap stunned world No. 4 Kenichi Tago of Japan by posting a straight-game victory in the first round of the men's singles event while Saina Nehwal registered an easy victory at the French Open Super Series in Paris.