Sameer Verma through to Swiss Open semis with win over Kento Momota; Parupalli Kashyap to face Raul Must in Austria

Second seed Sameer Verma upstaged Japan’s Kento Momota 21-17, 21-16 to enter the semi-finals of the Swiss Open. It took Verma 44 minutes to floor Momota, who is expected to reach the top 15 of the BWF rankings this year following his comeback to the international circuit. In the second men’s singles match, Commonwealth Games bronze medallist RMV Gurusaidutt crashed out of tournament after suffering a lop-sided loss in the quarter-finals match. [caption id=“attachment_3126894” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File image of Sameer Verma. News18[/caption] On a comeback trail after recovering from a major ankle injury, Gurusaidutt lost 8-21 15-21 to Kantaphon Wangcharoen of Thailand in a 35-minute contest. Gurusaidutt lagged 0-3 early on and though he grabbed a slender 4-3 lead, the Thai shuttler jumped to a 10-4 lead and then raced away with the opening game. In the second game, Gurusaidutt once again was 3-10 behind before gradually narrowing the gap to 14-16, but the Thailand shuttler changed gears to seal the contest without much ado. Wangcharoen will face Verma in the semi-finals on Saturday. Meanwhile, at Austrian Open, Commonwealth Games gold medallist Parupalli Kashyap defeated seventh seed Victor Svendsen, while Subhankar Dey retired against Jun Hao Leong due to an injury in the quarter-finals of men’s singles. However, Ira Sharma and Rahul Yadav Chittaboina bowed out of the tournament. Kashyap will face Estonia’s Raul Must in the semi-final clash on Saturday. With inputs from PTI