India will not have finalists in both the singles events at the BWF World Tour Finals after Sameer Verma went down to Shi Yuqi in the semi-finals at Guangzhou, China on Saturday, 15 December.
World number 14-ranked Verma, featuring at the season-ender for the first time, had forged his way into the last-4 with two wins in three Group B rubbers, but fell short against the Chinese world number two despite a valiant effort.
Verma stunned the reigning All England champion in the opening game to take a lead in his bid to become the first Indian man to reach a BWF Finals title clash, and then came close to pocketing the tie in the second – but Yuqi rode on his banks of experience to claw his way back, and eventually claim a 12-21, 22-20, 21-17 win.
24-year-old Verma was hoping to join PV Sindhu on finals day at Guangzhou on Sunday, 16 December.
(More to follow)
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