Shuttler Sourabh Verma loses New Zealand Open quarters

Auckland, Aug 4: Indian shuttler Sourabh Verma's campaign at the New Zealand Open Grand Prix Gold was halted after going down to unseeded Lee Cheuk Yiu of Hong Kong in the men's singles quarter-finals here on Friday.

The seventh seeded Indian, who defeated compatriot Parupalli Kashyap on Thursday, struggled in the first game to trail 1-6 before the World No.88 Lee extended it to 11-6 at the breather.

Coming back, Lee continued his dominance to further stretch his lead to 14-8 before Verma managed to take four points on the trot and reduce it to 12-14.

Both shuttlers went neck and neck till 18-18 before Lee kept his nerves to pocket the game 21-19.

In the second game, Lee went ahead taking a 8-4 lead before stretching it further to 11-6 at the break. Verma was nowhere in the competition as the gap continued to widen with the Hong Kong shuttler stretching it further to 16-11.

By now it became difficult for the World No.37 Indian as Lee slowly took away the game with a 21-16 margin.

In another quarter-final, India's H.S. Prannoy is playing Chinese Taipei's lin Yu Hsien.