Shuttler Sourabh Verma faces Japan's Minoru Koga in Vietnam Open semis

India shuttler Sourabh Verma will look to book his place in the final of the Vietnam Open BWF Tour Super 100 tournament when he locks horns with Minoru Koga of Japan in the last-four clash of the men's singles event in Ho Chi Minh City on Saturday. 

On Friday, Verma booked his place in the semi-final of the ongoing badminton tournament after easing past his Vietnamese opponent Tien Minh Nguyen 21-13, 21-18 in a one-sided quarter-final match that lasted 43 minutes. 

Koga, on the other hand, rebounded strongly from the opening game down to clinch a 13-21, 24-22, 21-16 win over sixth-seed Tanongsak Saensomboonsuk of Thailand in another last-eight match that lasted one hour and 12 minutes. 

Notably, Sourabh is currently the lone Indian survivor in the tournament after Siril Verma and Subhankar Dey lost their respective pre-quarterfinal and second round clashes. 

While Siril Verma was beaten by China's Lei Lan Xi 17-21, 21-19, 21-12, third-seeded Subhankar went down fighting against unseeded Malaysian Jia Wei Tan 11-21, 17-21 in the second round of the men's singles event.