Verma Brothers Sourabh and Sameer set for Dutch Open action

Almere (Netherlands), October 7: Verma brothers - Sourabh and Sameer - will look to put their best foot forward as they start their respective campaigns at the USD 75,000 Dutch Open Super 100 tournament beginning on Tuesday (October 8).

The Verma brothers come into the tournament with contrasting results. While top seed Sameer has been battling fitness issues which forced him to pull out of the events in China and Korea, Sourabh comes into the tournament having clinched the Vietnam Open Super 100 title last month.

Sameer, who had reached the quarterfinals at World Tour Finals last December, has been going through a tough phase this year as he could only manage to reach the quarterfinals at Singapore Open and Asia Championships and made early exits in the other tournaments.

The 24-year-old was knocking on the doors of the world top 10 early this year but a below-par performance saw his ranking slip to 17th. Sameer, who had won three tournaments last year, has got a bye in the opening round and will look to go deep in the tournament.

Fourth seed Sourabh, on the other hand, has claimed two titles this year -- Hyderabad Open and Vietnam Open -- to reach 34th in the BWF list. The 26-year-old also received a bye in the first round and is likely to face Spain's Pablo Abian in the second round.

Young Lakshya Sen will also be in action this week. The 18-year-old from Almora won the Belgian International last month and will be brimming with confidence when he opens his campaign against Ireland's Nhat Nguyen.

Another Indian in fray is upcoming player Mithun Manjunath, who also got a bye in the first round. He will open against fifth seeded French Thomas Rouxel in the second round.

In women's singles, former national champion Rituparna Das will be in action against Russian-born Israeli shuttler Ksenia Polikarpova in the opening round.

Women's doubles pair of Pooja Dandu and Sanjana Santosh will take on eighth seed Emma Karlsson and Johanna Magnusson.