Former junior national champion and world junior bronze
medallist Sameer Verma put behind six months of frustration and injury trouble
to land his second international title in two weeks when he came back from a
game down to upset sixth seed Shubhankar Dey and lift the Bahrain International
Challenge title in Manama on Saturday night.
The 20-year-old, who missed most of the season due to injury
and made a comeback in the Indonesia Open in September, had bagged the
International series crown last week at the same venue and then added the
Challenge crown on Saturday with a 19-21, 21-14, 21-12 victory over his more
seasoned opponent.
The Challenge level is one step above the Series in the Badminton
World Federation’s hierarchy.
While Verma remained unbeaten in Baharain, Saili Rane’s bid
to grab her second international title was shattered by a rampaging Tanvi Lad
in the women’s singles final.
The battle between two Mumbai born shuttlers turned out to
be an one-sided affair with top seed Tanvi registering a 21-12, 21-18 victory
over her compatriot in just 47 minutes.
Tanvi, who had suffered a quarterfinal reversal in the
Internation Series last week, did not drop a single game this week.
“I guess I had not fully recovered after playing the
European circuit and hence my performance was not up to the mark last week. I
took good rest and prepared well for this week and it showed in the results,”
said Tanvi after bagging her maiden international title.
In the doubles section, Sanave Thomas bagged a double crown
with the mixed and men’s doubles title.
Results (final)
Mens singles: Sameer Verma bt 6-Shubhankar Dey 19-21,
21-14, 21-12
Men’s doubles: 3-Sanave Thomas/Rupesh Kumar bt V
Diju/K Nandagopal walkover
Women’s singles: 1-Tanvi Lad bt 2-Saili Rane 21-12,
21-18
Women’s doubles: 2-Pradnya Gadre/N Sikki Reddy bt Aparna
Balan/Sanyogita Ghorpade 21-13, 19-21, 21-5
Mixed doubles: Sanave Thomas/Prajakta Sawant bt 4-V
Diju/N Sikki Reddy 19-21, 21-14, 23-23 retired
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