Hyderabad Open | Sourabh Verma advances, P Kashyap bows out

Verma never looked the second best in the match against the Chinese and ticked all the right boxes from the very start. Sun struggled to find the rhythm which helped Verma tremendously as he was too composed with his combination of big smashes and jaw-dropping delectable drops at the net.

After losing the first game 16-21, Sun tried his best to come back in the second one but the unseeded Chinese was clearly out of his level and an unrelenting Verma picked points with ease. He took just 36 minutes to win the match, winning the second game 21-11.

Kashyap should have had it easy, as he was up against an unseeded Singaporean, but he squandered his chances.  Despite playing against a higher ranked opponent, the Singaporean hardly conceded a point off Kashyap’s smash and was efficacious at the net as well. 

And although the crowd favourite tried to cheer up the audience with some huge smashes to make it 19-all in the decider, the Singaporean kept his nerve to win the match 17-21, 21-15, 21-19.

Important results (round 16): Men: Heo Kwang Hee (Kor) bt Mithun Manjunath 10-21, 21-15, 21-13; Kalle Koljonen (Fin) bt Shesar Hiren Rhustavito (Ina) 23-21, 21-15; Loh Kean Yew (Sgp) bt P. Kashyap 17-21, 21-15, 21-19; Subhankar Dey bt Chico Aura Dwi Wardoyo (Ina) 21-16, 21-15; Sourabh Verma bt Sun Fexiang (Chn) 21-16, 21-11; Ajay Jayaram bt Jia Wei Tan (Mas) 21-18, 21-13; Bai Yu Peng (Chn) bt Firman Abdul Kholik (Ina) 21-16, 13-21, 21-16; Iskandar Zulkarnain (Mas) bt Ikhsan Leonardo Imanuel Rumbay (Ina) 21-16, 21-15 .

Doubles: M.R. Arjun & Shlok Ramchandran bt Chia Wei Jie & Man Wei Chong (Mas) 18-21, 21-13, 21-19; Manu Attri & B. Sumeeth Reddy bt Apisuk Inkarat & Viriyangkura Tanupat (Tha) 21-14, 21-8.

Women: Yeo Jia Min (Sgp) bt Ji Shu Ting (Chn) 21-17, 19-21, 21-15; Pai Yu Po (Tpe) bt Sim Yu Jin (Kor) 21-12, 7-21, 21-15; Zhang Yi Man (Chn) bt Yulia Yosephin Susanto (Ina) 21-15 21-13; Phittayaporn Chaiwan Tha bt Brittney Tam (Can) 21-8 21-11; Natalia Perminova (Rus) bt Lee Ying Ying (Mas) 21-13, 21-14; Porntip Buranprasertsuk (Tha) bt Qi Xuefei (Fra) 21-16, 21-17; Benyapa Aimsaard (Tha) bt Ch. Sai Uttejitha Rao 21-10, 9-21, 21-8; An Se Young (Kor) bt Aakarshi Kashyap 21-18, 21-13.

Doubles: Ashwini Ponnappa & N. Sikki Reddy bt Chasinee Korepap & Kwanchanok Sudjaipraparat (Tha) 21-19, 21-16; J. Meghana & Poorvisha S. Ram bt Hendahewa Thilini Pramodika & Sirimannage Kavidi (SL) 22-20 21-15.