Kashyap stuns world No 24 Wacha

P Kashyap stunned world number 24 Przemyslaw Wacha of Poland to storm into the semi-finals of the Bitburger Luxembourg Badminton Championship.

The 19-year-old from Hyderabad bounced back after losing the first game to put it across Wacha 15-21, 21-18, 21-18 in a marathon encounter that lasted almost an hour on Friday night.

Kashyap's triumph against the winner of the Polish Open is his best performance of his fledgling career. He meets world number 35 Yen Hui Kendrick Lee of Singapore for a place in the final of the two-star event.

The other semi-final will be between Denmark's Kaspur Oedum and Susilo Ronald of Singapore, who had shown the door to Chetan Anand in the quarter-finals.

Kashyap, who has been in outstanding form, had earlier beaten world number 39 Tsuen Seng Lee of Malaysia.

Elated after the victory, national coach Pulela Gopichand said the young shuttler had improved a lot in recent months.

"It is a good win. He has won big matches in this tournaments and this performance has come against top players. So this is good sign," Gopichand said.

Wacha, who won the Polish Open last week, had been in the receiving end of the Indian teenager's talent earlier too.

Kashyap had upset him at the Hong Kong Open in August to make the pre-quarter-finals, where he lost to Olympic champion Taufiq Hidayat after putting up a brave fight.

Since then Kashyap has gained in confidence, with his world ranking climbing to 64 from outside the 100 bracket just a couple of months ago.

"He has done well this year. Before going on the tour, he had won the PSPB event, beating seniors like Nikhil Kanetkar in the final and Chetan Anand in the semis," Gopichand said.