Sourabh Verma topples Kenichi Tago in the second round: 2011 India Open Super Series
India’s Sourabh Verma defeated Kenichi Tago of Japan in the Men’s Singles second round of the 2011 India Open Super Series, in India, on Thursday, April 28. Verma took 60 minutes to beat the seventh seed Tago in a superb three-set fight. In the quarter-final,
the Indian will fight against either the world number one, Lee Chong Wei of Malaysia or Hyun Il Lee of Korea.
The opening half of the first set was absolutely thrilling as both shuttlers demonstrated top class game in front of the packed indoor arena at New Delhi. The scored progressed equally from both sides and reached at 10-10 where Tago executed a powerful smash
and established a one-point lead of 11-10.
After the interval, Verma played better game and levelled the score at 15-15. He started to gear up his speed at this stage of the game and managed to take a 19-17 lead. However, Tago scored two consecutive points and levelled the score at 19-19. The Indian
played wonderful strokes at the ending moments of the game and won the set with a close margin of 21-19, in 19 minutes.
Tago started the second game in an aggressive way by scoring two consecutive points. But Verma levelled the score by playing at the same pace. The young Indian was playing at his best in front of the home crowd. At end of the first half of the set, Tago
was ahead of the Indian by 11-10.
Verma started to increase his speed after the interval and levelled the score by 12-12. He continued his impressive run in the game and managed a reasonable lead of 16-13. Tago tried to play positively against the motivated Indian and levelled the score
at 16-16. The Japanese found the momentum and quickly reached at 20-16. Verma failed to tackle the aggression of the Japanese and lost the second set by a 21-18 margin, in 23 minutes.
In the third and final set, Verma stunned everybody by playing top class game. He was clearly ahead of Tago in the first half of the set where the score was 11-6. After the break, the Indian continued his remarkable performance and won the set with a 21-11
margin, in just 19 minutes. The concluding score of this thrilling 60-minute fight was, 21-19, 18-21 and 21-11.
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