Kashyap, Prannoy & co look to make an impression at Indonesia

A series of injuries derailing his Rio Olympic dreams, a fit-again P Kashyap will resume his journey in international badminton when he competes at the Indonesia Grand Prix Gold here tomorrow.
London Olympics quarterfinalist, Kashyap alongwith seven other Indians, including 2014 champion H S Prannoy, will be looking to make a mark in the men's singles event, starting tomorrow.
For Kashyap, it started with a calf muscle tear in October last year, before an abdominal strain further affected his recovery process. But the final nail on his Olympic dream was when he suffered a knee injury and retired midway at German Open in March.

Kashyap also had to go under the knife and what followed was rigorous physiotherapy to get back on court. Now that the worst phase of his career is over, Kashyap will now be eyeing a steady progress ahead.
"I've trained hard last two months. I just want to play and enjoy competing again. It'll take a couple of matches or tournaments to hit a good rhythm. The faster the better," Kashyap told PTI.
"I'm feeling ok, niggles here and there but I'm ok. I wouldn't enter a tournament if I didn't feel good," added the Commonwealth Games champion, who will be facing local shuttler Nathaniel Ernestan Sulistyo in the first round.

Among others, seventh seed Prannoy, who also had to deal with a foot injury and a back problem in the last few months, will take on Korean Ha Young Woong in the opening round.

Third seed Ajay Jayaram will meet local favourite Yehezkiel Fritz Mainaky, while Canada Open winner B Sai Praneeth, seeded 10th, will face local shuttler Riyanto Subagja.
Young shuttlers Harsheel Dani, Siril Verma, Kaushal Dharmamer and Abhishek Yelegar are also in the fray.
While Harsheel will have the uphill task of taming home favourite Simon Santoso, hiterto-unknown Kaushal will meet another local shuttler in Reksy Aureza Megananda.

Siril will square up against Malaysia's Wei Feng Chong, seeded 16th, while Abhishek will take on Indonesia's Fikri Ihsandi Hadmadi.
In women's singles, P C Thulasi will have a difficult customer in fourth seed Xiaoyu Liang of Singapore in the opening round, while Tanvi Lad will be up against another Indonesian Ruselli Hartawan.