Parupalli Kashyap’s strong run at the Canada Open Super 100 badminton tournament came to an end in the summit clash against China’s Li Shi Feng as he went down 20-22, 21-14, 21-16 in an hour and 16 minutes in Calgary on Sunday.
The 32-year-old Indian, who was playing in his first final since February 2018, had come through three grueling matches to make it to the final and though he managed to pull off the opening game against the Chinese opponent, he clearly struggled in the second and third.
Feng won nine straight points to take a 9-2 lead in the second game and never looked back thereafter. In the third game, did manage to get off the blocks better as he opened up a 6-2 lead but the Chinese first clinched seven straight points to wrest back the lead and then bagged five straight points from 10-10 to put himself in the driver’s seat.
Kashyap will now participate in the US Open Super 300 event where he reached the final in July 2017.