Dutch Open 2018: Parupalli Kashyap bows out; Sourabh Verma enters semi-finals

Indian shuttlers experienced mixed fortunes as Sourabh Verma entered the semi-finals of the Dutch Open 2018 at Almere, Netherlands on Friday but Parupalli Kashyap crashed out. Verma needed three games to beat the feisty World No. 68 Thomas Rouxel 21-16, 16-21, 21-17 in 1 hour 12 minutes.

However, the eighth seeded Kashyap could not live up to his seeding as he made an exit from the tournament with a 19-21, 21-14, 8-21 loss to World No. 93 Cheam June Wei.

Verma has a tough task up next as he takes on the top seed and World No. 33 Mark Caljouw for a place in the final.

The 25-year-old, who has been a former Indian national champion, lost a major chunk of the season last year and at the beginning of this year due to an ankle injury. He has been making efforts to claw his way back to the top echelons of the sport for the past few months and it resulted in him winning the Russian Open in July.

This week Verma has made it to the semi-finals of any BWF tournament just for the second time this year.

The 2014 Commonwealth Games champion Kashyap too was making a comeback at this tournament after a back injury, that he had sustained at the Singapore Open in July, hampered his chances of playing uninterruptedly for the past three months.

Meanwhile, India’s campaign came to an end in doubles with the seventh seeded men’s doubles pair of Arjun MR and Shlok Ramchandran losing 15-21, 14-21 to the fourth seeds Jones Ralfy Jansen and Josche Zurwonne of Germany.

Most of the top Indian shuttlers have taken a break this week in order to prepare for the hectic European swing that involves two Super 750 events in Denmark and France. The likes of Saina Nehwal, PV Sindhu, and Kidambi Srikanth will be back next week as the Denmark Open gets under way.