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Hong Kong Open Super Series: Sameer Verma vs Jan O Jorgensen; PV Sindhu vs Cheung Ngan Yi — As it happened...
A big day for Indian badminton as both PV Sindhu and Sameer Verma play their respective women's and men's singles semi-finals at the 2016 Hong Kong Open Super Series tournament.
 "Hong Kong Open Super Series: Sameer Verma vs Jan O Jorgensen; PV Sindhu vs Cheung Ngan Yi — As it happened...")
The match lasted just 46 minutes as PV Sindhu handed her Hong Kong opponent a class in badminton at Kowloon today. It will be a huge day for India tomorrow. Sindhu will have Sameer Verma's company in the finals, albeit in different events.
Game 2
PV Sindhu 21 - 16 Cheung Ngan Yi: A brilliant drop shot, full of disguise, to end the match.
PV Sindhu 20 - 16 Cheung Ngan Yi: Match point, but Sindhu wasted the first opportunity attempting to play a cheeky net play.
PV Sindhu 19 - 15 Cheung Ngan Yi: A delightfull backhand from Cheung stopped Sindhu's run, with the Indian crashing her return into the net.
Sindhu then challenged a long call. And it returned good. Two points away from back to back Super Series finals for the Indian girl.
PV Sindhu 18 - 14 Cheung Ngan Yi: Chueng continued to retrieve impossible rallies, but Sindhu is not taking those lightly. In the latest rally, the Indian killed off with a standing smash, to the body.
It was followed by another well disguise net play, dropping in the near post, even as Cheung chased the shuttle from another corner. Tough for her.
PV Sindhu 16 - 14 Cheung Ngan Yi: Cheung however produced a killer smash shot down the line on Sindhu's right and won the point.
It was followed by another killer shot, this time cross court. Gap reduced to two points. But Sindhu employed her tactics to the best with a series of drop shots, and a backhand lift from Cheung went long.
Cheung then played a brilliant defensive play to stop Sindhu's run.
PV Sindhu 15 - 11 Cheung Ngan Yi: Play resumed and Sindhu took another two points lead. A well placed shot down the line gave her three point lead.
A wide return on the left court from Cheung meant Sindhu has four points lead.
PV Sindhu 11 - 10 Cheung Ngan Yi: Great angle from Cheung which caught Sindhu napping at far post. Another rally of supreme class, with the Hong Kong girl producing an impossible return. She was caught tangled after a body shot seemed to have hit her, but somehow, the shuttle returned back and beat Sindhu.
Sindhu won the last point before the break, and has a one point lead.
PV Sindhu 10 - 8 Cheung Ngan Yi: Four straight points for the local girl to level the point, then a point to Sindhu. The Indian girl once again showed class by sending her opponent to errand rallies.
Another one from Sindhu, this time Cheung's return crashing into the net.
A long shot from Sindhu allowed Cheung to take a breather.
PV Sindhu 7 - 6 Cheung Ngan Yi: By the look of things, Sindhu is handing Cheung a class in badminton. Points can be win and loss. But the rallies and deceptions are beyond points.
In between, Cheung herself won back to back points to reduce the gap to 6-7.
PV Sindhu 6 - 2 Cheung Ngan Yi: Easy points for world number nine. Raced to four-point lead with a standing smash.
PV Sindhu 3 - 2 Cheung Ngan Yi: An aggression not the only thing PV Sindhu has. She played a brilliant defensive shot, which beat her opponent and landed cross court. Class.
PV Sindhu 2 - 1 Cheung Ngan Yi: PV Sindhu resumed the proceedings with a high serve, but lost the opening point of the game, failing to reach to the shuttle on his right.
But she won back the service by forcing an unforced error to her opponent. It was followed up by an aggressive play.
GAME 1
PV Sindhu 21 - 14 Cheung Ngan Yi: Sindhu, then, raced away with the points to game point. Six of those. And the Indian ended the game with a classic cross court flick. Easy at the end.
PV Sindhu 17 - 14 Cheung Ngan Yi: Sindhu misread the flight while trying to play back shot. But she regained the serve with another brilliant play in the net. Cheung won two more points thanks to Sindhu's bad play, with the latest one sailing over the baseline.
Sindhu, however, managed to return to the thick of actions with a well directed smash.
PV Sindhu 15 - 11 Cheung Ngan Yi: Sindhu killed the high serve with a smash on her opponent's right. It was followed by a brilliant drop shot, Pure class.
Cheung then played it into the net, giving Sindhu four points lead.
PV Sindhu 12 - 11 Cheung Ngan Yi: Unforced error from Cheung to give Sindhu three point lead. Her intended cross court smash missed the plot.
But the local favourite won the service back with a deep placement, which Sindhu let it go. Another point to Sheung.
PV Sindhu 11 - 9 Cheung Ngan Yi: Tow point lead for the Rio silver medallist, and the first time-out of the match.
PV Sindhu 10 - 9 Cheung Ngan Yi: Back to back points to the higher ranked Indian. Then, Sindhu missed a straight, down the line smash by a whisker.
PV Sindhu 8 - 8 Cheung Ngan Yi: Sindhu continued to make silly errors, this time sending it long. But she is not bothered. She kept the pressure on her opponent with a series of pushes, three in on. And Cheung missed the last.
But the Hong Kong girl won back the serve to take the lead. It was short lived though, as her back flick was responded with a precise drop shot.
PV Sindhu 6 - 6 Cheung Ngan Yi: Exchange of points after long rallies. Both the players employing subtle changes in the pace. A long shot from Cheung allowed Sindhu to level the point.
Then, another unforced error into the nets by the Hong Kong girl. It was follwed by a challenge from Sindhu, which was long.
PV Sindhu 3 - 4 Cheung Ngan Yi: Four straight points for the local favourite. Then, Sindhu put an stop the run with a calculated drop shot.
PV Sindhu 2 - 2 Cheung Ngan Yi: Hong Kong girl with the first serve, and a positive start from PV Sindhu to attack on the service. Another point to the Indian ace.
But an unforced error from Sindhu, crashing into the net. Her backhand ain't that bad.
17:52 IST: Now the focus on PV Sindhu. Players are out.
17:50 IST: The 22-year-old from Dhar can now hope to replicate legendary Prakash Padukone's feat of winning the Hong Kong Open title. Padukone won the inaugural tournament, in 1982.
Saina Nehwal, in 2010, was the only other Indian to win this tournament.
GAME 2
Verma 24 - 22 Jorgensen: A confident play from Verma. Then Verma did it, with tow back to back net plays which caught Jorgensen off guard. Match over in 45 minutes.
Verma 22 - 22 Jorgensen: Jorgensen challenged a in call, and he won. Fourth game point to the favourite. But Verma, who now has the crowd backing from him, won the service back.
Verma 21 - 21 Jorgensen: A killer smash from Verma, then a misdirected flight trying to caught Jorgensen off guard. It's 21-21.
Verma 20 - 20 Jorgensen: Then a brilliant rally from the both players, with Verma winning at the end. And it's DEUCE.
Verma 19 - 20 Jorgensen: A smash from Verma. One game point saved. Then, yet another unforced error from Jorgensen.
Verma 17 - 20 Jorgensen: Challenge from Verma. Desperation. Clearly out, and Jorgensen has got three game points.
Verma 17 - 18 Jorgensen: Verma lost a pressure point after winning a good one. Then, a nervous looking shot which missed the line, from Jorgensen allowed Verma to hang on.
Verma 15 - 17 Jorgensen: Three back-to-back points to Jorgensen as Verma seemed to have lost the steam.
The Indian then won back the serve thanks to yet another net play error from Jorgensen.
Verma 14 - 14 Jorgensen: A confident cross court smash from Verma and points level.
Verma 13 - 14 Jorgensen: Brilliant from the Indian shuttler. He dug deep to level the score. And helping his cause is Jorgensen's silly mistakes.
Verma then took the lead with a long play from his opponent, which missed the baseline.
But the lead was short lived, and Jorgensen took another one point lead.
Verma 9 - 12 Jorgensen: Silly mistakes from the favourite, first a loose play in the net, then a hasty service return which crashed into the net.
Then, Sameer changed the momentum with couple of lofted plays, and he narrowed it to 9-11.
But a missed net play meant Jorgensen getting the serve back.
Verma 5 - 11 Jorgensen: The Indian camp finally take a time-out with the point gap at 6 points. Dynamics of the play has changed in the second game, with Jorgensen playing an attacking game.
Verma 5 - 9 Jorgensen: An error in judgement from the Indian ended up with Jorgensen getting a clean smash. Then another point to extend the lead at 9-7.
Verma 5 - 7 Jorgensen: Four back to back points for Verma to keep the game in check.
Verma 1 - 7 Jorgensen: Verma challenged a line call, and won the point, but he soon lost the serve trying to keep the shuttle in play. Jorgensen has taken a decisive lead.
Verma 0 - 4 Jorgensen: As expected, Jorgensen started the second game with attack. 2 points, then an error from Verma gave the third point too to the Dane. Another point.
GAME 1
Verma 20-19 Jorgensen: Wasted two chances to wrap up the game, first after a long rally, then the second one a loose shot at the baseline.
But Sameer got the needed point thanks to a long play from Jorgensen.
Verma 20-17 Jorgensen: Three game points for the Indian as Jorgensen sent his return into the net.
Verma 18-17 Jorgensen: Jorgensen is having issues retrieving these loopy shots from Verma. Another misjudgment from the Dane. And the Indian has taken a surprise lead.
Verma 16-17 Jorgensen: Great game from Verma. He first beat the Dane with a brilliant disguise, a drop shot at the far post, then won another with a controlled return.
But after 16-16, Jorgensen attacked Verma in the centre.
Verma 14-16 Jorgensen: Back to back points for the Indian shutller. He has managed to control these short rallies. Jorgensen then produced a crafty drop shot. which caught the line. Verma's challenge wasted.
Another killer smash from the centre of the court by Jorgensen.
Verma 12-13 Jorgensen: Two killer smashes from Jorgensen as the Dane wrested back the initiative from the Indian. A precise drop shot on the second court to extend the lead to 2 points.
But Sameer played a well disguise net play to reduce it to one.
Verma 11-10 Jorgensen: But the Indian shuttler kept up with the pace and produced yet another cross court smash to kill the rally. Again, the lead is regained, before the first TIME-OUT.
Verma 9-10 Jorgensen: The world number three take complete control with brilliant rallies.
Verma 9-6 Jorgensen: Then, the Dane increased the tempo, winning a series of points. The 16th point was killer smash on Verma's left.
Verma 8-3 Jorgensen: Two more points to the Indian as his opponent continued to make unforced errors. After a long time, Jorgensen won the service back. Then another point to the favourite.
But Verma was lucky to have won back the service again thanks to a crash in the net.
Verma 4-1 Jorgensen: Brilliant start from the underdog Indian. After losing the second point, he played a delicate drop shot, then produced a cross court smash, which was challenged by his opponent.
Then, after a long rally, he forced Jorgensen into an error.
Verma 1-0 Jorgensen: First point to the Indian, who served first, as the world no. three sent his smash into the net
16:55 IST: Players take court, and warming up for the match.
16:45 IST: Moments into Sameer Verma vs Jan O Jorgensen match. It will start once the women's doubles match between Bao Yixin and Yu Xiaohan vs Kamilla Rytter Juhl and Christinna Pedersen is over. The Danes are leading 16-10 in the second game, after winning the first game 21-13 over the Chinese pair.
15:55 IST: Stay put for the live matches:
Earlier in the day, fourth seeded Chinese Taipei shuttler Tai Tzu Ying shocked Olympic champion and world number one Carolina Marin of Spain in three games. Ying will take on the winner of PV Sindhu and Cheung Ngan Yi in tomorrow's women's singles final.
In the men's singles first semi-final, NG Ka Long Angus defeated his Hong Kong compatriot Hu Yun in straight games, 21-19, 21-7. He will play the winner of Sameer Verma and Jan O Jorgensen in the final.
New Delhi: A big day for Indian badminton as both PV Sindhu and Sameer Verma play their respective singles women's and men's semi-finals at the 2016 Hong Kong Open Super Series tournament.
Rio Olympics silver medallist Sindhu survived a tight three-game match Xiaoyu Liang of Singapore yesterday. The Indian ace won the three-game match 21-17, 21-23, 21-18 in one hour and 18 minutes.
And her opponent is home favourite Cheung Ngan Yi, who ended Saina Nehwal's campaign in yet another three-game match. The Hong Kong won the match 8-21, 21-18, 19-21.
Sindhu has a 2-0 lead in head-to-head over her Hong Kong opponent. But those wins were tricky ones, with Sindhu winning 11-21, 21-18, 21-10 in the 2013 Malaysian Grand Prix and another three-game match 21-15, 15-21, 21-18 at 2014 Asia Championship.
The 21-year-old is bidding to win second successive Super Series title. Last Sunday, she won the China Open.
For Sameer, it's his first Super Series semi-final. He has given himself a shot at history, but it will be a very very tough ask. His opponent Jan O Jorgensen of Denmark is one of the top dogs in the circuit.
Still an unheralded player, Sameer took just 47 minutes to beat Malaysia's Chong Wei Feng 21-17 23-21 yesterday.
Here are everything you need to know about the matches:
Sameer Verma vs Jan O Jorgensen of Denmark
Date: November 26
Time: Semi-final actions start from 10:50 IST, but Sindhu's match is likely to start only after 16:00 IST, in the afternoon session.
Venue: Hong Kong Coliseum, Kowloon
TV Listing: Star Sports 4, Star Sports 4 HD
Live Streaming: Hotstar, BWF YouTube channel
PV Sindhu vs Cheung Ngan Yi of Hong Kong
Date: November 26
Time: Sindhu's semi-final is scheduled after Sameer Verma's match
Venue: Hong Kong Coliseum, Kowloon
TV Listing: Star Sports 4, Star Sports 4 HD
Live Streaming: Hotstar, BWF YouTube channel
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