2012 Bitburger Badminton Open: Rajiv Ouseph intercepts Anup Sridhar en-route to quarter-final round
Men’s Singles shuttler Rajiv Ouseph of England remained invincible in the third round of the Bitburger Badminton Open Grand Prix Gold and moved into the quarter-final round on November 1, 2012.
He overpowered Anup Sridhar of India by registering the final figures of 21-18, 16-21 and 21-11 in a 49-minute tussle.
The World Number 29 Rajiv, who is also the third seeded player of this tournament, played flawless badminton and locked the honour by prevailing in the opening and ending segments of the encounter.
On the other hand, the young Indian campaigner looked completely confused throughout this battle as he crashed out of this Grand Prix Gold event in a disgraceful manner.
First sign of trouble came for Anup Sridhar when he lost grip over the game after gaining an early advantage in the first set.
He raised his chances by placing a mountainous figure of 11 before the interval but then a couple of mistakes triggered the collapse.
Rajiv did not squander this opportunity and bounced back into the contest. He started the beating after 12-12 and established a decent lead to pile up a winning margin of 21-18.
However, next game changed the scenario as Anup showed a transformed character and counter-balanced the situation with a gutsy knock.
This time he did not repeat the previous mistakes and maintained an upper hand all the way to game point situation.
The Indian lad made his intentions clear by claiming three consecutive points and then mounted pressure by prevailing in next couple of rallies.
Anup finished first half of the set with a decent total of 11 and kept his challenger under control until the final moments.
He made a significant difference on the points table and won the second set with 21-16 score on the board.
Third set was expected to be a nerve-racking contest but it proved a dead contest as Rajiv Ouseph stole the limelight with a blistering performance.
He ruled the court in nine rallies straight away in the beginning and maintained this lead to place an overwhelming figure of 21-11.
This win ensured his presence in the quarter-finals where he will be meeting Scott Evans of Ireland.
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