Shuttler Sourabh Verma beats Japan's Koki Watanabe in final, wins 2018 Russia Open

Verma edged past the 19-year-old Japanese 19-21 21-12 21-17 in the final at the Sport Hall Olympic in Vladivostok.

Image Courtesy: Twitter/@BAI_Media

Indian shuttler Sourabh Verma beat Japan’s Koki Watanabe to win the Russia Open Tour Super 100 tournament on Sunday. 

Verma edged past the 19-year-old Japanese 19-21, 21-12 and  21-17 in the final at the Sport Hall Olympic in Vladivostok. 

Sourabh's dream run continues!

BAI congratulates the #AsianGames2018 bound shuttler, @sourabhverma09 on his Gold Medal win in Russia. He won the Russian Open 2018 Men Singles title defeating Koki Watanabe of Japan 18-21, 21-12, 21-17. #IndiaontheRise pic.twitter.com/JVJa2WFzFI — BAI Media (@BAI_Media) July 29, 2018

Watanabe got off to a great start with a six-point advantage at the interval. Verma did his best to come back into the match after five straight points but Watanabe squeezed ahead to take the opening set. (19-21) 

Sourabh took a five-point lead at the break in the second set. He surged ahead of Watanabe with ease (21-12) taking the match to a third set. 

Watanabe dominated the decisive set with a healthy 11-7 lead at the break. But Verma held his nerve to equalise 15-15 and went on to win the set by 21-17 to lift his first title of the season. 

Last week Verma crashed out of the Singapore Open 2018, losing 21-18, 15-21, 11-21 to Vietnam’s Tien Minh Nguyen in the round of 16. 

Sourabh Verma had recently won the All India senior ranking tournament in Bangalore to qualify for the Asian Games squad. 

Meanwhile, India’s second-seeded mixed doubles pair Rohan Kapoor and Kuhoo Garg, lost 19-21, 17-21 to Russia's Vladimir Ivanov and Min Kyung Kim of Korea in the finals.

( With Agency inputs)