Kashyap qualifies for knockout stage in men's singles badminton

Tops Group D by beating Vietnam's Tien Minh Nguyen in straight sets

Parupalli Kashyap scored a dominating straight sets win over Vietnam's Tien Minh Nguyen to progress to the pre-quarterfinals of the men's singles event of the badminton competition at the London Olympics today.

21st ranked Kashyap outplayed his rival, ranked eleven places above him, beating him 21-9, 21-14 in the second and final Group D match.

Kashyap topped Group D to make the knockout stage, having beaten Tan Yuhan of Belgium in an earlier Group match.

The Indian played aggressively right from the word go and never let his rival settle. He set up points beautifully by opening up the court and executed the winners with ease. In all, the Indian took 35 minutes to down his opponent and move on to the next stage.

The match featured long rallies, with both the players playing some fierce flat shots but it was the Indian who scored points consistently.

Minh tried to claw his way back in the second game but Kasyhap never let the momentum slip and clinched the game with a cross-court smash to the left of his rival.

"I expected to win but not that easily. Not that it was an easy game - we had some long rallies and when Minh gets into his rhythm he can be very dangerous." Kashyap said."I trained really hard for this competition and I think I won because of my fitness levels."

Talking about Minh, Kashyap said he was not an easy player to beat and that his strategy worked. "Once he gets two or three points in a row he's very dangerous, so I really tried to keep it to two points only. If he gets five or six he can run away with the game," he added.