India’s Sameer Verma progresses to second round at French Open badminton
Sameer Verma beat Lee Dong Keun in straight games in the men’s singles. The pair of Dhruv Kapila and N Sikki Reddy were knocked out of the mixed doubles.
Indian badminton player Sameer Verma advanced to the round of 16 in the men’s singles of the French Open 2021 at the Stade Pierre de Coubertin in Paris on Tuesday.
Ranked world No. 21, Sameer Verma beat South Korea’s Lee Dong Keun 21-14, 21-12 in 55 minutes in the opening round.
Sameer Verma will next face Indonesia’s Shesar Hiren Rhustavito, who is ranked one place above the Indian.
Meanwhile, the mixed doubles pair of Dhruv Kapila and N Sikki Reddy were knocked out in the round of 32.
Dhruv Kapila and N Sikki Reddy gave a tough fight but lost 21-19, 21-19 to Malaysian fifth seeds Chan Peng Soon and Goh Liu Ying.
The Malaysian pair were silver-medallists at the 2016 Rio Olympics and won gold in the mixed team event at the 2010 Commonwealth Games.
Two-time Olympic medallist PV Sindhu will begin her women’s singles campaign against Denmark’s Julie Dawall Jakobsen while Kidambi Srikanth has been drawn against world No. 1 Kento Momota of Japan.