‘I have the game to beat the best’: Sameer Verma after qualifying for World Championships

Indian shuttler Sameer Verma said he was taken aback after being handed a direct entry into the badminton World Championships in Glasgow next month.

“I had a chance of qualifying in May but I didn’t do well in Singapore and with Sai [Praneeth] winning and Srikanth also reaching the finals, the ranking was up and down,” he told PTI. “I knew I had a 1% or 2% chance of still making it if there were withdrawals, but I wasn’t expecting it,” he added.

The 22-year-old was in good form when he clinched his maiden Grand Prix Gold title at the Syed Modi International in January. He also reached the quarter-finals of the India Super Series. However, he suffered a shoulder injury and had to withdraw from Indonesia and Australian Open Superseries in June.

“The injury affected my progress as it took two to three weeks for me to regain my fitness,” Verma said. “It was also frustrating to not play at [the] Canada [Open] for visa issues but [the] US Open was a good tournament, despite my loss in [the] quarters. It was my first event after injury and my game was good but not my best.”

He added, “It takes a while to get back to your best. But this one month break will help me to regain my top game and play against the best at the World Championship and hopefully win a medal.”

So what are his expectations? “It is a big tournament, I know, but then I will be playing the same players I play in Superseries [tournaments] and so I don’t want to think too much about it and put pressure on myself. My focus is on training hard and playing well there.”

Verma will join India’s K Srikanth, B Sai Praneeth and Ajay Jayaram in the men’s singles competition at the World Championships. In the women’s side, Rituparna Das and Tanvi Lad also qualified behind Saina Nehwal and PV Sindhu.

“Looking at Srikanth winning in Indonesia and Australia has been a great motivation,” Verma said. “We have so many good players against whom we train and I think this is an advantage. I know I also belong there. I have the game to beat the best and I want to crack the top 10. This would be one of the targets,” he added.

Talking about his new Indonesian coach Mulyo Handoyo, Verma said, “His long sessions have really helped us. If you notice Srikanth’s final against Chen Long, he kept playing the rallies even in the third game, he didn’t get tired and it is the difference that his training has made.”