SOURABH VERMA CLINCHES RUSSIAN OPEN TITLE
Former national champion bags Russian Open title, Kuhoo-Rohan finishes runners-up
Former national champion Sourabh Verma pulled off a come-from-behind win over Japan’s Koki Watanabe in the summit clash to claim his first title of the season at the Russia Open Tour Super 100 tournament here on Sunday.
The 25-year-old Indian, who is on a comeback trail after recovering from injuries, overcame World No. 119 Watanabe 19-21, 21-12, 21-17 in the finals that lasted exactly an hour at the Sport Hall Olympic.
Second seeded Indian mixed doubles pair of Rohan Kapoor and Kuhoo Garg, however, suffered a 19-21, 1721 loss to Russia’s Vladimir Ivanov and Min Kyung Kim of Korea in the finals to settle for a runners-up finish.
Sourabh was left to do the catch up act in the opening game as Watanabe slowly and steadily distanced himself after opening up an initial slender lead of 2-0. The Japanese entered the first interval with a healthy 11-5 advantage.
The Indian led a fightback to narrow the gap to 11-12 but Watanabe again jumped to a 18-13 lead. Sourabh reeled off five straight points to draw parity but the Japanese managed to move ahead and pocket the opening game.
In the second game, Sourabh cut down his errors and surged to 7-3 lead and held an 11-6 advantage at the break. After the breather, he continued to march ahead and eventually roared back into contest comfortably.
In the decider, Watanabe zoomed to a 9-3 lead early on and held an 11-7 advantage at the interval.
However, a gritty Sourabh slowly erased the deficit and clawed back at 15-15. The Japanese tried to break away but Sourabh ensured there were no hiccups as he reeled off four straight points at 1717 to shut the door on his rival.
Sourabh had won the All India senior ranking tournament in Bangalore to make the cut for the Asian Games squad.
He had clinched the Chinese Taipei Grand Pri Gold and finished runners-up at the Bitburger Open in 2016.
‘Still work in progress’
Sourabh says he is still a work in progress and needs to improve his strength to compete consistently on the international circuit. “I’m progressing but still have to improve certain areas in my game,” Sourabh said.
“Next for me is Asian games and I’m already working on my strength, which will help me to continue playing in the circuit and do well.”
“Today’s match was quite tough and I am happy that I could win. This is my first win of the season and it will boost my confidence,” said Sourabh, who had won the All India senior ranking tournament in Bangalore last month to make the cut for the Asian Games squad.
“Today the shuttle was slow compared to the last three days. I couldn’t find the rhythm in the first game. Actually,
“I started the match from the difficult side, from where I was having difficulty in spotting the shuttler due to the white background.
“Same happened to my opponent in the second game and I knew that I can come back in the second game.”
The 25-year-old from Dhar, who clinched the Chinese Taipei Grand Prix Gold and finished runners-up at Bitburger Open in 2016, had suffered an ankle injury and was out of action for two months.
After regaining fitness, he made a comeback in New Zealand and Australia but made first round exits in both the events after losing narrowly in the three games.
“I started the year pretty well and confident but after Swiss open, I injured my ankle during a practice session and then my physios Arvind Nigam, Anuja Dalvi helped me getting back on court again,” he added.