Hyderabad Open: Sourabh Verma Wins Men's Singles Title, Ponnappa-Sikki Reddy Settle For Silver

Sourabh beat world no. 33 Kean Yew 21-13, 14-21, 21-16 at the Gachibowli Indoor stadium to win the Hyderabad Open title

Sourabh Verma

National champion Sourabh Verma defeated Singapore's Loh Kean Yew in a pulsating 3-game final encounter to win the Hyderabad Open title on Sunday. In a match that lasted 52 minutes, Sourabh beat world no. 33 Kean Yew 21-13, 14-21, 21-16 at the Gachibowli Indoor stadium in Hyderabad. Ashwini Ponnappa-N. Sikki Reddy had to settle for silver in the women's doubles final. Sourabh raced to a 6-2 lead in the opening game and was lead 11-4 at the interval. He never took his foot off the pedal and took the first game comfortably. But Kean Yew kept him on his toes in the second. From 14-13, the Singaporean took five straight points and eventually took the game 21-14. The third game also turned out to be a close affair and Sourabh held a slender lead 11-10 at the interval. After that, he managed to put some distance between him and his opponent to eventually win the Super 100 tournament. He has earlier won Super 100 titles at the Dutch Open and Russian Open and had most recently won Slovenian International in May. Ashwini and Sikki could not quite find their pace in the final against Korean pair Baek Ha Na and Jung Kyung Eun. In a match that lasted 43 minutes, the pair lost 17-21, 17-21.