Sameer enters maiden finals at Hong Kong Open

National champion Sameer Verma stunned World No. 3 Jan O Jorgensen of Denmark to reach his maiden Super Series final while Olympic silver medallist PV Sindhu made it to her second successive summit clash in women’s singles at the Hong Kong Open, here on Saturday.

It was double bonanza for India at the Hong Kong Open, the last Super Series tournament of the season, as Sameer and Sindhu dished out some superb performances to make it a super Sunday for badminton fans.

The 22-year-old Sameer, who is the younger brother of Sourabh Verma, showed tremendous athleticism and accuracy in his strokes to notch up a hard-fought 21-19, 24-22 win over Denmark’s Jorgensen, who had clinched the prestigious China Super Series Premier last week.

Sameer, who came into the tournament as a qualifier, will fight for the title against local favourite Ng Ka Long Angus.

Newly-crowned China Open champion, Sindhu, meanwhile, continued her rampaging run and disposed local shuttler Cheung Ngan Yi 21-14, 21-16 in a 46-minute match to set up a clash with Chinese Taipei’s Tai Tzu Ying, seeded fourth, to lay claim for her second super series title.

It is a rare occasion when two Indians have reached the finals of the men’s and women’s singles competition of any particular tournament. For records, Saina Nehwal and K Srikanth had made the finals at 2014 China Open and 2015 India Open and both had emerged victorious.

The highlight of the day was Sameer’s stunning win over Jorgensen, who reached the finals at China Open, Super Series Premier, Japan Open (Runner-up) and Indonesia Open Super Series Premier (Runner-up) this year. More than 40 ranking points separated World No. 43 Sameer from Jorgensen but the Indian displayed nerves of steel to down his far superior opponent.

In women’s singles, Sindhu, however, hardly broke any sweat as she defeated beat Cheung, an opponent she had beaten twice in the past.

Sindhu will be up against Tai Tzu on Sunday, who holds a 4-3 head-to-head record against the Indian but Sindhu beat her recently in Rio Olympics.