Having won two Super 100 titles this year, one in Hyderabad and the other in Vietnam, Sourabh Verma has improved his form considerably and this tournament stands testament to it. After defeating Korean player, Heo Kwang Hee in the semi-finals, the World No. 39 from Madhya Pradesh set up a date with eight seeded Taiwanese player Wang Tzu-Wei in the finals.
Sourabh came into the match against Tzu-Wei with a 1-1 head-to-head record, having lost out the Taiwanese at the Tong Yun Kai Cup in March this year. Notwithstanding that, Verma did try to give it his all but Tzu-Wei looked determined on winning and pushed Sourabh to the extremes, causing him to falter and make easy mistakes.
It was not an all-out Tzu-Wei show although; Verma showed his mettle in the first game. He waited around for Tzu-Wei to committ errors and bounded up to a 7-4 advantage, inviting an uproarious cheer from the spectators at the Babu Banarasi Das Indoors Stadium. But Tzu-Wei started playing closer to the net and soon enough levelled up 8-8 before taking the game break. With that, the World Number 22 did not drop his form and played relentlessly too well for the 26-year-old boy from Dhar, Madhya Pradesh. Verma had to settle for the silver medal but he will take back from the tournament a renewed confidence in himself to take on big opponents in bigger platforms.
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