Parupalli Kashyap loses to Momota in Indonesia Open Semifinal

Jakarta, June 6 (IANS): Indian shuttler Parupalli Kashyap’s splendid run at the $800,000 Indonesia Open Superseries Premier ended on Saturday as he lost to Japanese rising star Kento Momota 21-12, 17-21, 19-21 in the men’s singles semifinal here.

Kashyap, 28, was bidding to reach the summit clash of a Superseries tournament for the first time and set it up beautifully with a stunning 21-12 victory in the first game over world No.9 Momota.

But the 20-year-old Japanese scripted a stunning comeback to claim the second game before fighting hard to clich the third and won the match in an hour and 16 minutes at the Istora Gelora Bung Karno Stadium. Following Kashyap’s loss, India’s campaign in the tournament also ended as he and Saina Nehwal were the only ones who reached the quarter-finals on Friday. Saina lost to China’s Shixian Wang in a final eight contest.

With this win, two-time world junior champion Momota reached the final of the Superseries for the second time in this year and also took a 2-0 lead in career meetings over the 2014 Commonwealth Games gold medallist Kashyap.

Kashyap, who defeated world No.8 Son Wan ho and world No.1 Chen Long in the second round and quarter-finals, respectively, played an aggressive game from the beginning. His aggression helped him earn eight consecutive points to take a huge lead at 17-8 and that gave him a 21-12 win.

But 2015 Singapore Open champion Momota fought back and turned the heat on Kashyap from the start in the second game. Making his intentions clear, he raced to a 5-1 lead. But Kashyap unleashed high jump smashes to snatch consecutive eight points to build a 9-5 advantage.

However, Momota’s sharp net game helped him equalise at 11-11 and the game witnesses a see-saw battle till the 17-point mark before Momota sealed it by taking four points on the trot to make it 1-1.

In the third game, both Kashyap and Momota didn’t allow each other to gain advantage till the 10-point mark before Kashyap showed moved ahead by taking a two straight points. But Momota’s delectable drop shots kept Kashyap in check.

Even though the Hyderabadi shuttler again showed his ascendancy by taking a four-point lead at 17-13, a combative Momota refused to go down. Riding on five consecutive points, the Japanese sealed the game 21-19 and with this the match.

In the final Momota awaits the winner between Denmark’s world No.2 and defending champion Jan O Jorgensen and Germany’s world No.19 Marc Zwiebler.