Vladivostock (Russia): Former national champion Sourabh Verma came from behind to upset Japan’s Koki Watanabe to claim his first title at the USD 75,000 Russia Open Tour Super 100 badminton tournament here, Sunday.
However, the young mixed doubles Indian pair of Rohan Kapoor and Kuhoo Garg had to be satisfied with the runners-up title as they lost to Russia’s Vladimir Ivanov and Min Kyung Kim of Korea in the summit clash.
The 25-year-old Sourabh, who is on a comeback trail after recovering from injuries, overcame World No.119 Watanabe 19-21, 21-12, 21-17 in the match that lasted exactly an hour at the Sport Hall Olympic.
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.
Meanwhile, in the second game, Sourabh came back strongly to 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.
With the scores tied at 1-1, Watanabe zoomed to a 9-3 lead early on in the third and deciding set 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 did try to break away but the Hyderabad lad reeled off four straight points at 17-17 to shut the door on his rival.
“Today’s match was quite tough and I am happy that I could win. This is my first win of the season and I’m still progressing but still have to improve in certain areas. This win will certainly boost my confidence going into the Asian Games,” Sourabh said after the win.
“Today the shuttle was slow compared to the last three days. I couldn’t find the rhythm in the first game as I was having difficulty in spotting the shuttler due to the white background. I knew that I can come back in the second game and I did and won the game,” he added.
However, it was all curtains for the Rohan and Kuhoo as they suffered a fighting 19-21, 17-21 loss to the Russian-Korean pair.