BWF Hyderabad Open 2018 LIVE: Sameer vs Guru in Heated Semis

Among 20 matches in the Quarter-Finals of the BWF Super 100 Hyderabad Open 2018 badminton tournament, the mettlesome matches of Sameer Verma vs Pratul Joshi and Gurusaidutt R.M.V vs Lim Chi Wing provoked the frenzy aura at the G.M.C. Balayogi Stadium at Gachibowli Hyderabad on Friday.

As the two matches held side-by-side on the Friday night, the arena brimmed with claps and agitated cheers for every point won by their favourite stars.

In the opener between Guru and Lim, after breathing down their neck till 5-5, Lim conceded Guru’s strategy which led him to score four straight points to his advantage with 9-5, but it was for no longer; Guru grabbed five straight points towards the deficit of 9-9 but trailed by 9-11 by the half-time. In the second game, the hopes on Guru started to fade, before him changing the gear at 19-17.

The decider witnessed ‘who’s-in-the-lead’ game till 8-8. Later, Guru started showing his good show leading by the break with 11-8. While, Lim could score only three points by 13-11.

In another court, the match between Sameer Verma and Pratul Joshi turned out to be the most celebrated and agitated in the stadium.

Pratul, who defeated Sameer’s younger brother Saurabh Verma in the Pre-Quarters on Thursday, cruised towards the game with aggressive screams.

The second game between the duo stood as the show stopper. As Pratul led the game with 15-11, Sameer pulled-off six straight points to lead with 18-15. Every point in the game is very important for them as it is the matter of ‘brain and brawns’ - deft shots, deceptions angled smashes, easy drops - and the players never gave up dragging to 24-24.

Unlikely, Pratul lost the stride and gave away the match to Sameer with 7-21 in the decider.

In the Semi-Finals, it can’t be more heated-up as the stadium will witness the clash between students training under same roof at the Pullela Gopichand Badminton Academy.

We will have to see if Sameer Verma would justify his billing or Guru will prove to be overpowered than before in front of the home-crowd.

Stay tuned with us for the LIVE updates!