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Russia open: Sourabh Verma beats Koki Watanabe to clinch men’s title

By Joseph Biswas Last updated Jul 29, 2018

Russia open: Sourabh Verma clinches beats Koki Watanabe to clinch men's title — Sourabh Verma in action during the Russia Open final against Koki Watanabe on Sunday. (Image credit - Hindustan Times)

Former national champion Sourabh Verma clinched his first title of the season after defeating Koki Watanabe of Japan 19-21, 21-12, 21-17 in the finals of the USD 75,000 Russia Open Tour Super 100 tournament at Vladivostock in Russia, on Sunday.

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The 25-year-old making a comeback after a series of injuries overcame the 119^th ranked Japanese in an hour long match at the Sport Hall Olympic.

Sourabh though was forced to fight back his way into the match after conceding the first set to Watanabe, who starting with a slender lead of 2-0 raced his way to 11-5 at the break. The 37^th ranked Indian however bounced back soon as play resumed reducing the deficit to 11-12 at one point.

But once again Watanabe surged ahead to an 18-13 lead and although Sourabh won five consecutive points to draw level, he found the net with his next shot handing the opening set to the Japanese.

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He was then back at his best in the second set, cutting down on his errors to extend his lead from 7-3 to 11-6 at the break. The Japanese tried hard but eventually failed to stop Sourabh, who roared his way back into the contest.

In the deciding third set, Watanabe just like the first took 9-3 lead early on and from there extended the gap to five points at the break. But from standing at 11-6, Sourabh bounced back to reduce the deficit to a single point and then levelled the scores at 15-15.

Both the shuttlers then fought foot on foot, not letting the other escape away with the game. -There was however no stopping Sourabh, who from 17-17, took four straight points to clinch the set and win the championship.

The story however was not the same for the second-seeded Indian mixed doubles pair of Rohan Kapoor and Kuhoo Garg, who suffered a 19-21, 17-21, straight set defeat in the finals against the Russia –Korea combo of Vladimir Ivanov and Min Kyung Kim to finish as runner-up and win the silver medal.

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