All India Senior Ranking Badminton Tournament 2018: Sourabh Verma and Sai Uttejitha Rao Chukka win titles

Former Indian national champion Sourabh Verma produced his fighting skills to register a comeback victory in the men’s singles final at the Yonex Sunrise All India Senior Ranking Badminton Tournament 2018 held in Bangalore on Sunday. The 2016 Chinese Taipei Masters champion rebounded after losing the first game to upset the top seed Pratul Joshi 17-21, 21-14, 21-18 in a marathon match, that lasted 1 hour 12 minutes.

Verma had been sidelined by frequent injuries for quite some time and had not been able to play on the circuit for large chunks of the season.

In the women’s singles final, second seeded Sai Uttejitha Rao Chukka lived up to her billing as she fought for three games to beat the unseeded Rituparna Das 21-15, 7-21, 21-15 in 53 minutes.

Das, a former national champion, too has suffered of late due to a bout of injuries. She had been showing signs of resurgence throughout this week as she accounted for three seeds until being stopped by Chukka in the hard-fought summit clash.

The mixed doubles final turned out to be equally absorbing, where Dhruv Kapila and Meghana Jakkampudi fought back from a game down to edge Arun George and Arathi Sara Sunil 19-21, 21-12, 21-9 in a 50 minute battle.

Sunil made amends in the women’s doubles final where she and Rutaparna Panda combined to taste success. The duo halted the march of the Mauritius International winners, Simran Singhi and Ritika Thaker 21-10, 21-12.

In the men’s doubles category, Arjun MR and Shlok Ramchandran emerged as the winners. They had a comfortable 21-14, 21-16 win over the rising pair of Krishna Prasad Garaga and Dhruv Kapila.

This was the first of the two tournaments, which will serve as qualification events for the Asian Games to be held from August 18. The next such tournament will be held in Hyderabad from June 19.