New Delhi: On a day when luck deserted Parupalli Kashyap on the court, there was a good news awaiting him off it as the shuttler reached a career-best ranking of world number 11 in the latest rankings.
Soon after Kashyap was knocked out of the Korea Open in Seoul, came the news of his giant leap in the rankings, which was like a "breath of fresh air" for the top Indian shuttler.
The Olympic quarter-finalist, Kashyap was leading 16-14 in the third game of the pre-quarterfinal when the strings of his racquet snapped, allowing his opponent, world No. 9 Yun Hu of Hong Kong, to claw back and eventually win 16-21 21-13 21-17.
Kashyap was heart-broken but the fact that he became only the third player after Prakash Padukone and his mentor cum chief coach Pullela Gopichand to reach such a high in world badminton helped him to get over the loss and gear up for the Malaysia Super Series.
"I should have won today. I was very unlucky. At 16-14 in the third game when I was leading, the string of one racquet broke and my smash went in the net. Next again, one more racket string broke at 17-16 and again a smash went out. Next two points he hit good shots and won. Sometimes we are not lucky. Anyway, I am happy that I reached world number 11 today," Kashyap told PTI from Korea.
"I came to know about the ranking after the match. I am very happy. I think it is the third highest ever by a men's singles player from India after Prakash and Gopi Sir. It is a great feeling," he added.
Besides Prakash and Gopichand, Chetan Anand was the only other Indian, who reached world number 14 in 2009.
Kashyap said it has boosted his confidence and now the world number one seems a realistic goal.
"I hope I can go forward and reach number 1 one day. It seems realistic now. Hard work and patience is most important," he said.
Rising shuttler, P V Sindhu, also jumped two places to reach career-best ranking of world number 17, while Saina Nehwal retained her world number three status.
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