Indonesia Open'18: Saina - Sameer show come to an end?

In the Indonesian Open 2018, Indian badminton shining stars, Saina Nehwal and Sameer Verma are on the trails, back to home. While two of the players in both Men’s and Women’s Singles category have forged their way to the quarterfinals, Saina and Sameer have disappointed their fans.

In the pre-quarterfinals of the Women’s Singles, Saina Nehwal was kicked out of the tournament by her Chinese opponent Chen Yufei who was leading the game from the beginning. Saina also made successful efforts to snatch the lead from her rival and leveled the game. However, she committed few errors, wandered from her points, and Yufei takes the game by 21-18. Even after an optimum struggle, the Indian shuttler lost the inaugural game.

It was extremely vital for the Indian shuttler to win the second game. Both players put all their potential and energy to battle in the second game, which continued for 20 minutes. Ultimately, Saina surrendered to her opponent and lost with 15-21. Yufei made her spot in the quarterfinals by beating India’s Saina Nehwal 21-18, 21-15 in the second round of the Women’s Singles.

On the other hand, Sameer Verma took Viktor Axelsen of Denmark, after foiling the Indonesian shuttler Jonatan Christie in the first round of the Men’s Singles and the Danish player whipped out the Indian shuttler by 21-15, 21-14.

Viktor was leading the first game, and by the mid-interval, the scoreline was 16-8, and so the difference was of massive 8 points. It was getting grimmer for Sameer to tackle the smashes of Viktor. Danish player took maximum advantage of his height and won the first game 21-15.

In the second game, a miracle was needed to bring out Verma from the complicated situation. But the verdict was not what was anticipated, and by the mid-interval, again Axelsen was leading by 4 points, and the score was 11-7. Sameer lacked confidence and failed to make a comeback, subsequently defeated by Axelsen 21-14.

Both Saina and Sameer are eminent players. However, Sameer has plenty of time in his pocket, to learn more and develop his skills. Although we still have HS Prannoy and PV Sindhu, who are performing amazingly and so we still have a ray of hope for the Indonesian Open titles. Stay tuned for more!