Shuttler Sourabh Verma wins Vietnam Open title

Indian shuttler Sourabh Verma defeated Sun Fei Xiang of China 21-12, 17-21, 21-14 in the final to win the Vietnam Open BWF Tour Super 100 in Ho Chi Minh City on Sunday.

The Indian made a confident start in the summit clash as hewas 11-4 up at the mid-break of the first game. However, Sun Fei Xiang put upsome fight to delay Sourabh Verma's wait for victory in the first game. SourabhVerma sealed the first game with ease but faltered in the subsequent game.

Sun Fei Xiang won seven consecutive points to mark hisdominance in the second game. He clinched the second game by 21-17 to handSourabh his first-ever game loss in the tournament.

The third game was a closely-fought affair with the twoplayers locked at 6-6 but after that Sourabh Verma took the game by the scruffof its neck.

The second-seeded Indian held his nerves to seal the finalgame 21-14 and clinch the title.

"I am very happy with the way, I played this week. I played three Japanese and these players have a similar kind of styles. Most like to attack and the little differences in their style is something you have to figure out on the court. So it was nice to beat them," Sourabh told.

He beat three Japanese shuttlers – Kodai Naraoka, YuIgarashi and Minoru Koga – on way to his title win.

It was a third career meeting between Sourabh and Sun. Theduo has faced off twice this year at Canada and Hyderabad with the Indiancoming up trumps on both the occasions.

Talking about the final match, the world no 38 Indian said: "In the first game, I waited for his weak returns. I realized his defense was a little weak, so I looked to exploit that. He committed too many unforced errors and it helped me. "In the second game, I was troubled by the drift from one side and he jumped into a huge lead. But after the change of side in the decider, I went back to the strategy that worked for me and I am happy I could win."

The 26-year-old from Madhya Pradesh had won the Dutch Open and Korea Open last year.