Shuttler Kashyap urges BWF to reconsider qualifiers scheduling

Indian shuttler Parupalli Kashyap on Tuesday urged the Badminton World Federation (BWF) to reconsider scheduling of the superseries qualifiers after the 2014 Commonwealth Games gold medallist had to play two consecutive qualifying matches of Australian Open within a span of two hours.

Kashyap played against Chinese Zhao Junpeng whom he defeated 21-15, 21-18 in his first qualifying round before brushing aside Indonesia Open runner-up Kazumasa Sakai of Japan 21-5, 21-16 to seal his place in the first round of the tournament, where he will take on top seed Son Wan Ho of South Korea.

"A good start to #AustraliaOpenSS2017. Request @bwfmedia to change the scheduling of Superseries qualifying rounds in future. #zhaojunpeng and #KazumasaSakai with 2hrs in between," Kashyap tweeted on Tuesday.

Among others, shuttlers Siril Verma and Ruthvika Shivani Gadde also qualified for the $750,000 Australian Open Superseries, starting here on Wednesday.

Siril first brushed aside Indonesian Yehezkiel Fritz Mainaky 21-9, 21-9 before getting the better of compatriot Shreyansh Jaiswal 21-16, 21-14. Shreyansh had thumped Pit Seng Low of Australia 21-14, 21-11 in his first qualifying round.

In the women's singles, Ruthvika dismissed Australian Sylvina Kurniawan 21-15, 21-15. The second qualifying round was a cakewalk for the Indian as she cruised past Ruwindi Serasinghe 21-9, 21-7.

--IANS

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