New Delhi: Former national champion Sourabh Verma registered a come-from-behind win over Japan’s Koki Watanabe in the summit clash to claim his first title this season at the $75,000 Russia Open Tour Super 100 tournament at Vladivostock, on Sunday.
The 25-year-old Indian, overcame world No. 119 Watanabe 19-21, 21-12, 21-17 in the final that lasted an hour at the Sport Hall Olympic.
Second seeded Indian mixed doubles pair of Rohan Kapoor and Kuhoo Garg suffered a 19-21, 17-21 loss to Russia’s Vladimir Ivanov and Min Kyung Kim of Korea in the final.
Verma’s Japanese opponent entered the first interval with a healthy 11-5 advantage.
The Indian narrowed the gap to 11-12 but Watanabe again jumped to a 18-13 lead. Verma reeled off five straight points to draw parity but the Japanese managed to move ahead and pocket the opening game.
In the second game, Verma 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 the contest.
In the decider, Watanabe zoomed to a 11-7 advantage at the interval. However, a gritty Verma slowly erased the deficit and clawed back at 15-15 and then reeled off four straight points at 17-17 to win.
