New Delhi, April 29 (IANS) The home challenge ended at the India Open Super Series badminton with giant-killers Sourabh Verma and Guru Sai Dutt going down in the quarterfinals at the Siri Fort Sports Complex stadium here Friday.
Qualifier Sourabh, who upset two seeded players in his maiden Super Series event, went down 7-21, 8-21 to World No.1 and top seed Lee Chong Wei of Malaysia, while Dutt fared no better, going down 10-21, 16-21, against Hong Kong’s Yun Hun, seeded eighth.
Sourabh, who raised India’s hopes in the tournament with a gutsy performance, stood up to Chong Wei initially when he drew level 6-6 in the first game. But Chong Wei was soon in control and made the contest one-sided.
The Malaysian toyed with the greenhorn with his deceptive shots. From 11-7, Chong Wei reeled off 10 points to win the first game.
Sourabh tried to engage Chong Wei in long rallies in the second game, but he erred in judging the lines and could not finish the points when he went for the kill. The Malaysian again took nine points in a row to go 16-3 up and the Indian could do little to stop the favourite.
Chong Wei, however, was all praise for Sourabh, saying he is ‘very strong.’
‘He has come up from the junior ranks and beaten two seeded players in this tournament, but he has a long way to go, he has to learn a lot,’ said Chong Wei, who will next meet Yun Hu in the semifinal.
Sourabh said he has to have variety in his shots. ‘It was a great learning curve for me. The tournament has given me the self-belief and confidence to do well in future. I have to add variation in my strokes,’ he said.
The more experienced Dutt, however, disappointed as he strove hard to find his range of strokes. Invariably, all his efforts ended up in Yun Hu easily smashing away for winners, more so in the first game.
Dutt hardly looked like the one who beat Bonsak Poonsana in the first round. He found it difficult to counter the touch play of Yun Hu who controlled the net with ease in the second game.
‘I was not getting the length right. I have been playing the top players for quite some time now and I need to be more consistent. I need to work on my strength and endurance also,’ said Dutt.
Denmark’s Peter Gade got a tough fight from Japanese Takuma Ueda before getting past 23-21, 21-10 in another quarterfinal.
World No. 6 Gade, 34, will next take on South Korean Sung Hwan Park, who upset second seeded Indonesian Taufiq Hidayat 21-17, 21-17.
In the women’s singles, Japan’s Sayaka Sato will face third seed Youn Joo Bae of Korea in the semi-finals. Sato rallied to beat Singapore’s Jiayuan Chen 18-21, 21-15, 21-15 while Bae got past Jie Yao of the Netherlands 21-13, 21-18.
In the other semi-final, Porntip Buranaprasertsuk of Thailand will take on fourth seeded Pui Yin Yip of Hong Kong.
Buranaprasertsuk beat Juan Gu of Singapore 21-16, 23-21 and Yip went past Thai Inthanon Ratchanok 21-17, 21-15.
