Badminton: Sameer Verma eases into Thailand Open quarterfinals

Indian shuttler Sameer Verma continued his stellar run at the Thailand Open as he on Thursday he eased past Denmark’s Rasmus Gemke in straight games to enter the quarterfinals of the men’s singles event. Verma defeated Gemke 21-12, 21-9 in the second-round contest of the Super 1000 tournament that lasted for almost 40 minutes.

Verma led the match from the start and took the opening game in less than 20 minutes. Having beaten the eighth seed Lee Zii Jia of Malaysia in the opening round, the world number 31 took his game a notch higher as he won the second game 21-9 to march into the last eight.

Verma will now face world three Anders Antonsen for a place in the semi-finals. On Tuesday, Verma had registered a stunning comeback win against Zii Jia as he came with a lion-hearted performance to secure a 18-21, 27-25, 21-19 win in a thrilling opening match that lasted for one hour and 14 minutes.

“I think this will give me confidence for the rest of the tournament,” he had said after his first-round win as per the Badminton World Federation (BWF) website.

Verma was uncertain of making the Asian Leg, and said he’d arrived in Bangkok in perhaps not the best frame of mind. In fact, he had already booked his return flight for Thursday, as per the BWF.

Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Ashwini Ponnappa through to the quarterfinals of the mixed doubles event. The Indian pair beat world number 17 German pair 22-20, 14-21, 21-16 in second round.