Toyota Thailand Open: Sameer Verma narrowly misses out on the semi-finals


Toyota Thailand Open: Sameer Verma narrowly misses out on the semi-finals
Sameer Verma

The quarter-finals of Toyota Thailand Open will be exciting as Indian shuttlers were to take the court in 4 matches. After, Ashwini Ponnappa-Satwiksairaj Rankireddy‘s win in the mixed doubles, all eyes were on Sameer Verma.

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Sameer Verma was in top form when he started out in the tournament. He beat eight-seeded Lee Zii Jia in his opening round and Rasmus Gemke in the second. However, his incredible efforts fell short by a hair against third seed Anders Antonsen of Denmark in the quarter-finals.

Antonsen was off to a flyer in the first game. He was fluid in his movements on court. He dictated the game as his smart shot selection often left Verma guessing. The Danish shuttler took the first game, 13-21. In the second bout although Antonsen took a slender lead initially, Verma did well to punish his opponent to stay in the game. Despite bruising his fingers mid-way through the game, Verma made an incredible comeback taking the second bout, 21-19. He pushed the match to go into a decider.

The narrow loss against the Dane

Sameer Verma Thailand Open
Sameer Verma

Sameer Verma put everything in the decider to stay on the same footing with the higher ranked Anders Antonsen.

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Antonsen seemed to have a topsy-turvy run as unforced errors creeped into his game. Verma truly gave it his all to secure a berth in the semi-finals. Even though at one point, the 26-year old seemed dead and buried at one point he raised his game to match his opponent stride-for-stride. But his efforts didn’t find fruition as the Danish shuttler saved a match point to win the decider, 20-22.

In the first game, I wasn’t feeling that confident. I thought I played really well in the second and third game and I tried my best. I was leading in the final game and got to match point, but I couldn’t capitalise. I think Antonsen has been playing very well, like today. I really tried my best,” Verma said.

Although Verma bowed out of the contest, he put a brilliant fight in the extra-ordinary match. The final scores were, 21-13, 19-21, 22-20. All eyes will now be on PV Sindhu and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy-Chirag Shetty as they look to secure a spot in the semi-finals.

Also Read: Toyota Thailand Open: Ashwini Ponnappa and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy emerge victorious in a nerve-racking battle

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