IF an Oscar award for the most successful underdog in the sport of badminton is on offer right now, Sameer Verma will win it hands down.
The 19-year-old unseeded Indian last night capped a brilliant fortnight in Bahrain with back-to-back titles, adding the Bahrain International Challenge crown to the one he won at Indian Club last week.
More pertinently, Verma seems to have turned the act of giant-killing into a rare form of method acting. His histrionics so far have caused five seeded players, two at Indian Club and three at Bahrain Keraleeya Samajam, some real embarrassment, precious ranking points and, more painfully, quite a few dollars in prize money.
Verma’s latest victim last night was compatriot and sixth seed Subhankar Dey whom he defeated in a thrilling final 19-21, 21-14, 21-12 to pocket the top prize of $1,125 and 4,000 ranking points, his biggest payday and most profitable outing, to add to the $365 and 2,700 ranking points he won at the Indian Club.
This maestro performance should see him make an almost meteoric rise in the rankings apart from lifting his bank balance and giving his confidence and morale an almighty boost.
The ladies final by comparison was a tame affair as top seed Tanvi Lad ended former doubles partner, city mate and second seed Saili Rane’s victory run with a methodical display of all-round badminton, 21-12, 21-18.
Rane was just too tired and rarely won successive points while Lad was in her elements early on and moved across the court with decisive footwork and displayed a wide range of deceptive stroke play.
In the second game, Lad looked fresher and more formidable while Rane appeared jaded and soon faded away conceding a string of soft points. The fact that she needed an injury break at 11-15 and later received a warning for wasting time did not help either and she eventually succumbed rather tamely.
“I was in total control and kept attacking her. I knew she was tiring fast and exploited it by increasing the pace,” said the 20-year-old Lad.
“I was done with,” said Rane, also 20 and from Mumbai. “We have played each other so much that it is very difficult to find something new when we play. But today she was better than me and I was not 100 per cent into the match,” added Rane, who won the title at the Indian Club.
But the match to cherish on the final day was the men’s singles title clash which lasted an hour exactly. Dey was the first to get off the blocks as he soaked in the early pressure better than Verma, who struggled to get into his rhythm and made repeated unforced errors before raising hopes of a late comeback.
The youngster from Dhar, a small town near Indore in the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh, saved six game points with a series of fine smashes and drop shots to rally from 13-20 to 19-20.
Though Verma lost the first game at the next point, the late surge seemed to have lifted his spirits and confidence. His body language changed in the next two games and with it out came his wide repertoire of strokes from all across the court.
Verma won eight points in a row in the second game and raced to 17-8 with a delectable cross court back hand drop shot from close to the net before wrapping it up with an equally cunning shot, this time from the centre of the court.
The decider started on a thrilling note with a long rally of aggressive strokes which Verma won with a smash into his opponent’s body. Another point in yet another acrobatic rally, which saw both the players covering the entire length and breadth of the court, put Verma ahead 6-3.
Verma found his patented extra gear at this juncture while Dey, from West Bengal in India, struggled to keep up with the pace of the game and lost points in succession to trail 8-15 at one stage.
Verma did not let things drift and ruthlessly finished off the match with a string of stinging back hand smashes, most of which he played with his back to his opponent.
Fantastic
“It has been a fantastic two weeks, the best of my career so far,” said the former junior Indian national champion who trains at the Gopichand Academy in Hyderabad.
“I made too many mistakes in the first game. But in the second, I stepped up the pace to my liking and that helped lift my game,” said Verma, the second son of a middle class family.
The Indian badminton bandwagon, meanwhile, continued its relentless march and made a second clean sweep in as many weeks winning all five title at stake despite one final witnessing a retirement and another declared a walkover.
The final evening started on a dramatic note in front of a packed and appreciate crowd with the mixed doubles final going to the wire but sadly not reaching its logical end.
Diju V and Siki Reddy were serving for the title at 19-21, 21-14, 23-22 against Sanave Thomas and Prajakta Sawant when Diju going for the kill leaped high and in the process injured his left knee.
Prolonged treatment did help the badly swollen knee and he had to be taken to hospital for further checkups.
An X-ray late last night did not reveal anything serious but the doctors have advised an MRI scan and ruled him out of his next two tournaments.
With Diju indisposed, the men’s doubles final which he was supposed to play with partner K Nandagopal and against K T Rupesh Kumar and Thomas was declared a walkover.
Pradnya Gadre and Siki Reddy won the women’s doubles title beating Aparna Balan and Sanyogita Ghorpade 21-13, 19-21, 21-5.