Hong Kong Open: Sourabh Verma defeats Tanongsak Saensomboonsuk to qualify for main draw

Indian shuttler Sourabh Verma won both his qualification round matches to qualify for the main draw of the Hong Kong Open.

He defeated Thailand’s Tanongsak Saensomboonsuk 21-15, 21-19 on Tuesday and Lucas Claerbout of France 21-19, 21-19 to make it to the main draw of the $ 400,000 tournament.

’s @sourabhverma09 advanced into the Main draw of #YonexSunrise #HongKongOpenSuper500 after defeating s Tanongsak.S 21-15,21-19 and ’s Lucas.C 21-19,21-19 in round respectively.

Good luck ahead champ#IndiaontheRise #badminton pic.twitter.com/sq87LfMSJa

— BAI Media (@BAI_Media) November 12, 2019

In the first qualification match - which lasted for 45 minutes - the players started on an even footing, with Tanongsak replying every time Sourabh took the lead.

The second game, however, turned out to be a more closely fought contest but the Indian held his nerves and went on to win the game 21-19.

In the second match against Lucas - which lasted for 47 minutes - the Indian had to be at his absolute best to emerge victoriously.

The player will be playing his first-round men’s singles match on Wednesday. 

The other shuttlers, Kidambi Srikanth, B Sai Praneeth, Sameer Verma, H S Prannoy and Parupalli Kashyap will also be in action in the men’s singles event.