Sourabh Verma wins Vietnam Super 100 title

India's Sourabh Verma continued his unstoppable form and put up an exemplary display to clinch the Vietnam Open Super 100 title, defeating China's Sun Fei Xiang in a thrilling decider at 21-12, 17-21, 21-14.

This win marks Sourabh's second Super 100 win in the ongoing calendar year. He had won the Hyderabad Open earlier in August to end India's wait for a men's singles title in a major international event in 2019. 

Sourabh, who hasn't lost a game en route to the finals of the ongoing competition dominated the first game as he cruised to a 21-12 win. With strong half-court smashes and solid net points, Sourabh at one stage was enjoying a healthy 8 points lead of 4-12. The Chinese made efforts to script a comeback but he left it for too late as the Indian World No 38 wrapped up the opening game 21-12. 

The Indian was in for a surprise in the second game as the Chinese made amends for his first game errors. Sourabh had to wait for 9 long points until he could open his tally at 1-9. Sourabh rose to the occasion to reduce the lead but eventually succumbed 17-21 as the game went down to the decider.

With the game on the wire, both the players looked extremely cautious with the shuttlers breathing down each other's neck. But Sourabh, with a touch of class, steadily built his lead and eventually pocketed the game at 21-14.

Road to victory

The second-seeded Indian had earlier defeated Koga 22-20, 21-15 in the semi-final clash, that lasted close to an hour precisely, 51 minutes. 

was given a stiff fight by his Japanese opponent throughout the course of the match. However, the World No. 38 came up with a gritty performance in both the games and emerged victorious. 

After getting a bye in the first round, Verma -- who is the lone Indian in the competition -- outlasted Japan's Kodai Naraoka 22-20, 22-20 in a tight second-round clash. Naraoka's compatriot, Yu Igarashi then posed a stern test to Verma in which the Indian came out with flying colours. A gruelling 25-23, 24-22 victory sealed the deal for Verma and put him in the quarter-finals. 

And the last-eight match against home favourite Tien Minh Nguyen turned out to be the easiest for him as he cruised to a 21-13, 21-18 victory on Friday.