Experienced Sourabh Verma gave his younger compatriot Lakshya Sen a lesson in tactical badminton as he clinched his third senior national title at the TRP Stadium in Guwahati on Saturday.
The 26-year-old, who had won all the four earlier matches between the two players, needed 44 minutes to beat Sen 21-18, 21-13 in what turned out to be an one-sided affair.
Verma had lost just one game against Sen in their earlier four meetings but the youngster was in exceptional form in Guwahati. He had not lost a single game in the run up to the summit clash and expectations were high from the World Junior championship bronze medallist.
Sen, who had overpowered P Kashyap in the semi-finals, started strong and his powerful smashes did put pressure on Verma’s defence as the youngster raced to a 11-6 lead by winning five straight points from 6-6.
But this is when Verma, who had won his second title beating Sen in Patna two years ago, changed tactics. He began playing a lot more softer strokes, using the cross court drops more often and also began driving the returns on Sen’s smashes to the back of the court and that affected the youngster’s rhythm.
Once Verma managed to close in with four straight points after the break, he kept pushing Sen behind with his precise tosses and did not allow the Asian Junior champion to take control of the rallies.
This forced Sen to attempt some expansive shots to find the winners and Verma pounced on the opportunity to earn four game points. The youngster saved two but a lucky net cord gave the eventual champion the required break to pocket the game with a simple smash.
In the second game, Sen tried to out-think his opponent by staying alert for quick taps but Verma proved too smart for him as he mixed his soft returns with attacking tosses and cross court smashes to never allow his opponent to fight back in the match after taking an 11-7 lead at the mid-game interval.
Earlier, the scratch men’s doubles combination of Chirag Shetty and Pranaav Jerry Chopra made their experience count to defeat Shlok Ramchandran and Arjun MR 21-13, 22-20 in 33 minutes.
Despite being the favourites as per the tournament seedings, Shlok and Arjun were clearly nervous in the opening game and their tentative approach allowed their more experienced opponents to grab the initiative.
The top seeds did change tracks in the second game, showing a lot more aggression but that was probably a bit too late as they failed to build on the one match point they saved.