Odense (Denmark): Rising Indian shuttler Sourabh Varma stunned world number eight and home favourite Peter Hoeg Gade in straight games to enter the second round of the Denmark Open badminton tournament here.
The 19-year-old Indian prevailed 21-18, 21-14 against the sixth-seeded former All England champion in a contest lasting 42 minutes.
Sourabh, who was knocked out in the first round of the recent National Championships in Srinagar, will now take on Sony Dwi Kuncoro of Indonesia in his next match.
The teenager did not get overawed by his five-time European champion opponent and matched his experience quite well on the court.
With 15 smash winners in the course of the match, Sourabh displayed quite a lot of grit against the 35-year-old crowd favourite.
However, Ajay Jayaram could not come up with a giant-killing effort and lost 21-19, 8-21, 9-21 against seventh-seeded Chinese Pengyu Du.
In the 59-minute match Ajay, who was a finalist at the National Championships, showed promise to start with but eventually fizzled out against his fancied rival.
PTI
First Published: Thursday, October 18, 2012, 11:14