Badminton Year-Ender: Top 5 shuttlers of the 2018 season

#4 Sameer Verma

When everybody hoped Kidambi Srikanth to continue his 2017 heroics, it was instead Sameer Verma who stole the show in Indian men’s singles badminton.

A prodigy on the junior circuit, the Dhar-born Verma had medals from the World Junior Championships and the Asian Junior Championships. But recurrent injuries prevented him from fulfilling the promises he had made early on his career.

It was finally in 2018 that it all came together for the Pullela Gopichand protégé. Verma emerged from the shadows of Srikanth and HS Prannoy to make a name for himself. The Swiss Open title triumph in February showed to some extent what was to come during the remainder of the year for Verma.

The journey wasn’t exactly very smooth for the next few months but it was the post-World Championships period that saw Sameer become the player that he was always supposed to be. With a spring in his steps and a newfound conviction in his abilities, Sameer won the Hyderabad International and remained in the hunt for a berth at the BWF World Tour Finals.

His speed and defence on the court were exemplary and Verma was a picture of calm even under the most intense pressure. That awarded him the Syed Modi International title for the second time in his career to push him into the final-eight at the World Tour Finals, where he reached the semi-finals.

With three titles and a spectacular debut at the season-ender in 2018, the World No. 12 Sameer has raised hopes that he definitely has more to offer.

Edited by Sripad