Orleans Masters | Sameer Verma reaches semi-final as Parupalli Kashyap loses in quarters
Sameer Verma booked a semi-final berth of the men’s singles in Orleans Masters after beating Lucas Corvee 17-21, 21-19, 21-15 in the quarterfinals. But the other hope of India, Parupalli Kashyap has bowed out from the tournament along with men’s doubles pair of Francis Alwin and Kidambi Nandagopal.
Sameer Verma and Kashyap were literally the biggest hopes for India given the fact that most of the big names were absent due to their participation in the Commonwealth Games that
After losing the first game by a margin of 17-21 to the Frenchman, he cut down to his unforced errors in the second and third game to make a magical comeback in the match. Although the Frenchman managed to put up a strong fight in the second game, the Indian got the better of him at the end by winning it 21-19. However, the third game was a one-way traffic for the Indian shuttler as he won it 21-15.
However, Kashyap, who played brilliant badminton throughout the tournament, couldn’t replicate the same in the quarters and lost the game by a margin of 21-8, 21-14 to Denmark’s Rasmus Gemke. There was no way the Indian could pose a challenge to the Dane and it was just another disappointment for the 2010 Commonwealth medalist, who didn’t deserve to lose any of the games in the tournament so far.
In the men’s doubles event, the duo of Mark Lamsfuss and Marvin Emil Seidel got the better of the Indian pair of Francis Alwin and Kidambi Nandagopal in a challenging three-game match which the former won 19-21, 21-14, 21-8.