Verma Sameer stuns Liu Kai in Boy’s Singles semi-final of the Badminton Asia Junior Championships
India’s Verma Sameer delivered a stunning performance in the Boy’s Singles semi-final as he sent China’s Liu Kai packing after a thrilling rubber-set battle at the Badminton Asia Junior Championships 2011, in Lucknow, on Friday, July 8.
The young and spirited Indian surprised the huge home crowd by delivering his career best performance in the biggest junior event in Asia. He played tremendous badminton for 57 minutes and took three sets to defeat the Chinese after a wonderful fight.
Sameer played with confidence and courage against the Chinese, who was playing a shaky game. The Indian struggled to find good momentum in the start, but he became quick in the second-half of the first set. Kai tried his best to dominate the game but failed
to deal with the aggression of the Indian. Sameer won the first set in 25 minutes with the score of 21-19.
The second game was also entertaining in the first-half as both players were close until the break, where Kai was slightly ahead at 11-9. After the break, the Chinese shuttler kept good control over the rallies and was successful in putting pressure on his
rival. Sameer made many errors in the concluding part and lost the set by a 21-15 score, in 19 minutes.
The match entered into an interesting phase as both shuttlers were tied by winning one set each. Sameer kept his speed at the highest level from the start of the third set and quickly reached 8-3 by playing fast at the net. He made no mistake in the set
and maintained wonderful pressure on the confused Chinese, who failed to control the speed of the bird.
Sameer remained dominant in the whole set as he faced no resistance from the Chinese player. He grabbed the final set by a stunning score of 21-9, in just 14 minutes. The semi-final ended in 57 minutes with the score of 21-19, 15-21 and 21-9.
In the final battle, Sameer will be up against second seed, Zulfadli Zulkifli of Malaysia, who defeated Momota Kento of Japan in the semi-final showdown.
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