Twenty-year-old P Kashyap pulled off a major upset, drubbing world No 19 Przemyslaw Wacha of Poland to storm into the men's singles pre-quarter-finals at the Hong Kong Open badminton championships on Wednesday.
However, India's euphoria was dampened a bit after Saina Nehwal's defeat to world No. 1 Ning Zhang of China.
Kashyap is now the only Indian in fray in the six-star event, as the others, including Chetan Anand, Anand Pawar and Ajay Jayaram, failed to get past the second round.
Kashyap came up with a sparkling performance against Wacha, overcoming the first game loss to win 17-21, 22-20, 21-13.
The Hyderabad boy set up a clash with veteran Taufiq Hidayat of Indonesia.
Saina, who defeated the higher-ranked Sarotja Chansrisukot of Thailand on Tuesday, gave Zhang a good fight, but the Chinese top seed handled the crucial points well to pocket the match 21-11, 21-16.
Anand Pawar came up with a fighting performance against Chong Wei Lee of Malaysia but surrendered after winning the first game at 22-20, 6-21, 11-21.
Chetan Anand, the world no. 22, disappointed again, losing to Hwan Sung Park of Korea 21-12, 21-9.
Jayaram, who had to qualify for the main draw and pulled off a stunning upset against world No 12 Eric Pang of the Netherlands on Tuesday, lost to world No 25 Kay Bin Yeoh of Malaysia 16-21, 16-21.
In another women's singles first round match on Tuesday, qualifier Aditi Mutatkar lost to second seed Xie Xingfang 21-16, 21-9.
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