Telangana’s M Tharun overpowered the experienced Sourabh Varma with his smashes in the men’s singles final. In the ongoing 37th National Games on Tuesday.
Tharun, who had upset second seed and national champion M Mithun in the semi-final, got the better of Varma 21-15, 16-21, 21-15 in an hour and 10 minutes to bag his first National Games gold at the Dr Shyama Prasad Mukherjee stadium here.
The fourth seed adopted an aggressive approach from the opening game itself and went for his big smashes. That game plan worked as he opened up a lead 12-8 lead. Varma did manage to close the gap at 16-15, but Tharun bagged the next five points to close the game.
The experienced Varma then changed strategy and began engaging his opponent in flatter rallies. This allowed him to take control of the proceedings and force a decider. However, Tharun was prepared for this game plan in the final game and changed ends leading 11-5.
Knowing that his senior opponent was under pressure, Tharun stuck to his game plan and induced errors from Varma to win the title.
“My plan was simply to play to my strength and keep pressure on Sourabh. I am happy that it worked perfectly today,” said Tharun after the match.
