Subhankar Dey clinches SaarLorLux Open
Subhankar Dey put up a rousing display to defeat Rajiv Ouseph 21-11, 21-14 and clinch the SaarLorLux Open 2018 held in Saarbrucken, Germany.
Published : Nov 04, 2018 23:23 IST
Indian shuttler Subhankar Dey's fairytale run continued as he ousted fifth seed Rajiv Ouseph 21-11, 21-14 to clinch the 2018 SaarLorLux Open Super 100 tournament in Saarbrucken, Germany, on Sunday.
The 25-year-old Subhankar needed only 33 minutes to defeat Ouseph, in what was the first encounter between the two players.
The triumph caps off a great week for Subhankar, who had sensationally defeated two-time Olympic gold medallist Lin Dan in straight sets to reach the quarterfinal. He then got the better of England's Toby Penty to cruise into the last-four stage.
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In Saturday's semifinal, he saved two match points against China's Ren Pengbo to win 21-18, 11-21, 24-22 and seal his berth in his second final of the year.
This triumph marks his first title of the year. Subhankar made headlines last year when he put up a gritty display to edge past B. Sai Praneeth in the quarterfinals of the senior badminton nationals held in Nagpur. While he lost to H. S. Prannoy in the semifinals, the win over Praneeth ensured he was being talked about.
He got off to a fine start in 2018 when he finished runner-up in the Kabal International tournament in Czech Republic in March. The second place finish propelled him to a career-high ranking of 43.