India’s Subhankar Dey ousted Rajiv Ouseph of England 21-11, 21-14 in the finals of the SaarLorLux Open at Saarlandhalle in Saarbrucken on Sunday. This is the 59th ranked’s first title in 2018.
Subhankar overcame Belgium’s Elias Bracke 21-19, 15-21, 21-7 in the opening game. The 25-year-old followed it up with 21-18, 21-18 win over Italy’s Fabio Caponio and caused a major upset when he triumphed over former World No. 1 Lin Dan 22-20, 21-19 in straight sets. In the quarterfinals and semifinals, his destiny would collide with England’s Toby Penty and China’s Ren Pengbo respectively. The Kolkata-born player shrugged both of them 21-16, 21-9 and 21-18, 11-21, and 24-22.
Earlier in the competition, Harsheel Dani bowed out to France’s Lucas Corvee 16-21, 18-21 in the second round and Pratul Joshi succumbed to Canada’s Jason Ho-Sue 9-21, 16-21 in the first round. 8th seed Parupalli Kashyap made it to the quarter finals where France’s Toma Junior Popov eked him out 16-21, 18-21.
In the Women’s’ Singles event, Prashi Joshi bowed out to #1 seed Gao Fangjie 6-21, 12-21 in the first round. Anura Prabhudesai succumbed to Bulgaria’s Linda Zetchiri 12-21, 13-21 in the first round Denmark’s L Kjaersfeldt got the better of Saili Rane 21-14, 21-9 in the quarterfinals.