Practice partners clash on road to recovery

In a major upset Verma, ranked 231 in the world, beat World No.9 Hans Kristian Vittinghus in straight games 21-15, 21-17. Gurusaidutt and Verma, who practice together at the Gopichand Academy but have never played each other in a competition will now fight for a quarterfinal spot.

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For both players, the India Open is an important milestone on the road back from injury. Last season was a mixed bag for Gurusaidutt. While the middle of the year saw him win a bronze medal at the 2014 Commonwealth Games, he was carrying an injury going into Glasgow. It began at the Japan Open in June when he picked up an Achilles injury in his first round match. The 24-year-old managed to recover but then hurt his knee just before the Commonwealth Games. Another period of recovery was followed by another injury – this time to his back. As a result Gurusaidutt missed the Denmark and French Super Series. When he looked to get his new season on track at the Syed Modi GP Gold in January, he once again picked up a freak injury. What was initially brushed off as a jerked neck was later diagnosed as a disc bulge.

Subsequently he was ruled out of the All England Super Series as well. “Last year was frustrating. It was probably six weeks of break due to injury then two weeks of training before I play a tournament and then once again I was injured,” he said.

While his stablemate has had one rough year, Sameer, the younger brother of international player Sourabh can claim a bit more sympathy. In 2011, the now 20-year-old was perhaps India’s most promising junior. He had won a silver in the juniors at the Asian Badminton Championships as well as in the Junior CWG in Pune. He had also won a bronze at the World Juniors, losing to eventual winner and current World No.6 Viktor Axelsen.

The next year, which could have been a breakout season saw him out for six months with a back injury. While results slowly improved over the next year, 2014 saw another setback when Verma was diagnosed with appendicitis in July. “Last July, I had appendicitis so I was out of the scene. I started training again in August. So I have lost a lot of time since 2012,” says Verma.

Verma, has since managed to stay injury free and even finished runners up at the nationals last year. However, he also made early exits in the Syed Modi (second round loss to Arvind Bhat) and Tata Open (second round defeat to Anand Pawar).

Indeed his comprehensive victory over Vittinghus, (a player he had also beaten in 2011 before his injury woes) clearly gave him a boost. “I feel a lot of confidence after beating a top-10 player. He was trying to keep rallying and I was finishing the points off quickly,” he said.

Both players are quick to play down their own chances for Thursday’s game. Other results: Saina Nehwal bt Riya Mukherjee 21-5 21-13; K Srikanth bt Tanongsak Saensomboonsuk 21-17 21-16; Parupalli Kashyap bt Hsu Jen Hao 16-21 21-19 21-18; Lin Dan bt Wei Wang 21-15 21-16; Jan O Jorgensen bt Sho Sasaki 21-18 21-13.