Sameer has potential to play at highest level: Gopichand

CHANDIGARH: If there is one shuttler who has taken giant strides in the world of badminton then he is none other than Sameer Verma.
In the last twelve months, the newly-crowned National champion has jumped a staggering 140 places in the BWF world rankings. In April last year, he was ranked a lowly 175. Consistent performances at the international level saw him leap-frogged to a career-best ranking of 35.He slipped little bit to be currently ranked 38 in the world.
National chief coach Pullela Gopichand is highly impressed with the progress his trainee has made in the last one year or so. He was also pleased to see the Verma brothers - Sameer and Sourabh - playing the final as both the siblings have been training under him at Hyderabad for the last five years.
"Both the brothers are very respectful. They both have unorthodox game which surprises their opponents," said Gopichand.
Praising Sameer for his recent phenomenal achievements, Gopi is expecting even better results from Verma Junior in the future.
"Sameer has a potential to play at the highest level. He is a quick learner and a very sincere student. I have been watching him since his teenage days. He has established himself in the senior circuit very fast. I hope he will go places in the years to come," said Gopichand.
Sameer has won three international tournaments late last year. He triumphed twice in Bahrain and also emerged champion in the Tata Open International Challenge tournament in Mumbai in December.
Sameer, who hails from Dhar, Madhya Pradesh, reached semifinals in Bulgaria and made it to the quarters in Vietnam Open and Thailand Masters.
He has beaten some of the world's top players like Sho Sasaki of Japan, Hu Yeun of Hong Kong, Indonesia's Ginting Anthony and Wang Zhengming of China in the last few months.
Former National coach Sanjeev Sachdeva termed Sameer as the next Kidambi Srikanth of India.
"I have no doubt in my mind that Sameer will be the next big star of Indian men's badminton. He is next Srikanth of India. He has lightning speed on the court. He generates tremendous power in his smashes. With little bit of perfection in the strokes, he will be a tough customer to handle at the world-level," said Sachdeva.
The Chandigarh-based experienced coach, however, is not happy with the women's badminton status in India. "After Saina Nehwal and PV Sindhu, we are struggling to get a third quality singles player. In doubles too, we are nowhere as far as world standard is concerned," said Sachdeva, who now trains youngsters in Jalandhar, Punjab.