Sourabh Verma wins Russian Open, Kuhoo-Rohan finishes runner-up

The Indian led a fightback to narrow the gap to 11-12 but Watanabe again jumped to a 18-13 lead. Sourabh reeled off five straight points to draw parity but the Japanese managed to move ahead and pocket the opening game. In the second game, Sourabh cut down his errors and surged to 7-3 lead and held an 11-6 advantage at the break. After the breather, he continued to march ahead and eventually roared back into contest comfortably.

In the decider, Watanabe zoomed to a 9-3 lead early on and held an 11-7 advantage at the interval. However, a gritty Sourabh slowly erased the deficit and clawed back at 15-15. The Japanese tried to break away but Sourabh ensured there were no hiccups as he reeled off four straight points at 17-17 to shut the door on his rival.

Sourabh had won the All India senior ranking tournament in Bangalore to make the cut for the Asian Games squad. He had clinched the Chinese Taipei Grand Pri Gold and finished runners-up at the Bitburger Open in 2016.