Sameer stuns Vittinghus

Badminton India Open: Young Indian knocks out fifth seed to move into second round

Young Indian qualifier Sameer Verma attracted the spotlight on Wednesday by knocking out fifth-seeded Hans-Kristian Vittinghus of Denmark 21-15 21-17 in the opening round of the Yonex-Sunrise India Open.

Sameer, 20, had shown sparks early his career when he became Asian Junior Championship silver medallist (2011) and followed it up by winning the national junior champion (under-19)in Jaipur in 2012. He, though, was soon battling a chronic back problem before appendicitis in July last year pegged him back. Still new to the senior circuit, Sameer is learning the ropes, goaded by his love for badminton. Sameer had also beaten Vittinghus in the 2011 Syed Modi Grand Prix Gold quarterfinals.

 “I was under pressure before the start but became comfortable once the play began. I have got a lot of confidence after beating Hans,” said Sameer, who trains at the Gopichand Academy in Hyderabad.

Next up for him is RMV Gurusaidutt, who beat Korea’s Lee Dong Keun 21-14, 17-21, 23-21 in the opening round.

In another first round upset, fourth-seeded Tien Chen Chou of Chinese Taipei went down to China’s Xue Song 21-14, 21-16. Song next plays India’s Parupalli Kashyap who was pushed to the wall by gritty Jen Hao Hsu of Chinese Taipei before eking out a 16-21, 21-19, 21-18 win. Playing on the court adjacent to him was India’s rising star K Srikanth.

The second-seeded Indian cruised to 21-17, 21-16 victory over Thailand’s Tanongsak Saensomboonsuk. Top seed Jan O Jorgensen also advanced to the second round with a 21-18, 21-13 win over Sho Sasaki while Olympic champion and third seed Lin Dan of China defeated Tzu Wei Wang of Chinese Taipei 21-15, 21-16.

In the women’s singles, top seed Saina Nehwal warmed up for the challenges ahead with an easy 21-5, 21-13 victory over 17-year old qualifier Riya Mukherjee, who was thrilled to play her idol. Likewise, second-seeded Carolina Marin barely broke sweat to beat Neha Pandit 21-7, 21-8.

“In the last six-seven months I am coming out with very good performances, which I had never expected. The first thing I am thinking is to train the way I want to and play well,” Saina said. However, it was end of road for Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa who went down to sixth-seeded Chinese pair of Dongni Ou and Yu Xiaoha 16-21, 18-21 in women’s doubles.

Results: First round (Indians unless mentioned): Men’s singles: 1-Jan O Jorgensen (Den) bt Sho Sasaki 21-18, 21-13, 3-Lin Dan(Chn) bt Tzu Wei Wang (Tpe) 21-15, 21-16; H.S. Prannoy bt  Misha Zilberman (Isr) 22-20, 21-8, Yu Hsien Lin (Tpe) bt  Anand Pawar 15-21, 21-17, 21-5;  Yun Hu(Hkg) bt Ajay Jayaram 15-21, 21-9, 21-15; R.M.V. Gurusaidutt bt  Dong Keun Lee (Kor) 21-14, 17-21, 23-21; 8-Tommy Sugiarto (Ina) bt Brice Leverdez(Fra) 21-17, 21-7; Nan Wei (Hkg) bt Petr Koukal (Cze) 28-26, 23-21; Sameer Verma bt  5-Hans-Kristian Vittinghus  21-15, 21-17; 6-Nozomi Okuhara (Jpn) bt Jamie Subandhi 21-7, 21-8; Parupalli Kashyap bt Jen Hao Hsu(Tpe) 16-21, 21-19, 21-18; Xue Song (Chn) bt 4-Tien Chen Chou (Tpe) 21-14, 21-16; Takuma Ueda (Jpn) bt Wing Ki Vincent Wong (Hkg) 21-16, 21-12; 7-Zhengming Wang (Chn) bt Joachim Persson 21-14, 8-21, 21-14; Kento Momota (Jpn) b t  Marc Zwiebler 21-8, 21-19; 6-Viktor Axelsen(Den) bt B. Sai Praneeth 21-4, 21-18; 2-K. Srikanth bt Tanongsak Saensomboonsuk 21-17, 21-16.

Women’s singles: 1-Saina Nehwal bt Riya Mukherjee 21-5, 21-13; 2-Carolina Marin (Esp) bt Neha Pandit 21-7, 21-8; 3-Ratchanok Intanon (Thai) bt Saili Rane 21-9, 21-11; Ruthvika Shivani Gadee bt Rucha Nikam 21-7, 21-6; 8-Pai Yu Po (Tpe) bt Sabrina Jaquet (Sui) 17-21, 21-7, 21-18; Hana Ramadhini (Ina) bt Jeanine Cicognini (Ita) 14-21, 21-14, 21-19; Yui Hashimoto (Jpn) bt Sayali Gokhale 21-16, 20-22, 21-16; Riya Pillai bt Ekta Kalia 23-21, 21-15; 7-Yip Pui Yin (Hkg) bt Elisabeth Baldauf 21-10, 21-15; Hyo Min Kim (Kor) bt Chien Hui Yu (Tpe) 21-11, 21-12; Yao Xue (Chn) bt  P.C. Thulasi 21-16, 21-15; 5-Minatsu Mitani (Jpn) bt  Kuhoo Garg 21-7, 21-7; Adrianti Firdasari (Ina) bt  Shruti Mundada 21-9, 26-24; Hsu Ya Ching (Tpe) bt Tanvi Lad 21-9, 21-18; Chi Ya Cheng (Tpe) bt Mudra Dhainje 21-19, 21-14.

Men’s doubles: 5-Hirokatsu Hashimoto/ Noriyasu Hirata (Jpn) bt M. Anilkumar Raju/Gaurav Venkat 21-9, 21-8; Puavaranukroh Dechapol/Ketlen Kittinupong (Tha) bt Talar Laa /Sahil Sipani 21-9, 21-5,      3-Chai Biao /Hong Wei (Chn) bt Pranaav Jerry Chopra/ Akshay Dewalkar 21-15, 21-9, Kim Astrup/Anders Skaarup Rasmussen bt Kamaldeep Singh/Neeraj Vashist 21-5, 21-9, 6-Wang Yilv/ Zhang Wen (Chn) bt Ankit Chhikara /Deepak Khatri 21-12, 21-12, Tarun Kona/Santosh Ravuri bt Utkarsh Arora/Abhinav Prakash 21-14, 21-14, Danny Bawa Chrisnanta/ Chayut Triyachart (Sin) bt Arjun Kumar Reddy/Hema Nagendra Babu 21-18, 21-18; 1-Mathias Boe/ Carsten Mogensen (Den) Shlok Ramchandran/Sanyam Shukla 21-16, 21-10; Alwin Francis/Arun Vishnu bt D. Guru Prasad/S. Sanjeeth 21-7, 21-14; 2-Hiroyuki Endo/Kenichi Hayakawa(Jap) bt  Manu Attri/B. Sumeeth Reddy 21-15, 21-11; Kang Jun/Liu Cheng(Chn) bt Arun George/K. Nandagopal 21-17, 21-11.

Women’s doubles: 6-Ou Dongni/Xiaohan Yu (Chn) bt Jwala Gutta/Ashwini Ponnappa; 3-Christinna Pedersen/Kamilla Rytter Juhl (Den) bt Aparna Balan/Prajakta Sawant 21-12, 21-11; Cha Kaka Tsz Ka/Tse Ying Suet (Hkg) bt J. Meghana/K. Maneesha 21-11, 21-17; Kuhoo Garg/ Ningshi Hazarika bt CH. Poornima/Smriti Nagarkoti 21-11, 21-10; Ye Na Chang/ Hae Won Yoo(Kor) bt  Pradnya Gadre/N. Sikki Reddy 21-13, 21-13; Hsin Tien Chang/Chi Ya Cheng (Tpe) bt Nisha Karamchand/ Rachita Sahdev 21-7, 21-8.

Mixed Doubles: 1-Joachim Fischer Nielsen/Christinna Pedersen (Den) bt Manu Attri/K Manisha 21-5, 21-16; 8-Lee Chun Hei Reginald/Chau Hoi Wah (Hkg) bt Gaurav Venkat/Juhi Dewangan 21-10, 19-21, 21-12; 7-Praveen Jordan/Debby Susanto (Ina) bt Nagendra Babu/Poorvisha Ram 21-13, 21-16; 5-Mads Pieler Kolding/Kamilla Rytter Juhl (Den) bt Ashwini Ponnappa/ Pranav Chopra 21-13, 20-22, 21-19; 2-Liu Cheng/Bao Yixin (Chn) bt Kamaldeep Singh/Smriti Nagarkoti( 21-12, 21-5.