World no. 12 Sameer Verma attributed India's ouster from the recent Sudirman Cup mixed team championship in the group stages to two reasons. Firstly, the sudden injury to skipper Kidambi Srikanth and the second, to fatigue as a result a packed 2018 calendar.

India crashed out of the tournament last week after losing to Malaysia 2-3 and hosts China 0-5. China had beaten Malaysia earlier, so with two teams qualifying from the three-team group, India had to win any one of their two matches, but they failed. Sameer was roped in as a last-minute replacement for Srikanth, who got injured during practice.