<p class="title">Former champion Sourabh Verma suffered a straight-game loss to world number 2 Chou Tien Chen in the men's singles second round to draw curtains on India's campaign at the USD 500,000 Chinese Taipei Open badminton tournament here on Thursday.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The 26-year-old Sourabh, who won the Hyderabad Open last month, was no match for the top-seeded Chen, going down 12-21 10-21 in a match that lasted 30 minutes.</p>.<p class="bodytext">World number 38 Sourabh, the 2016 winner of this tournament, had come into the match with a 2-0 head-to-head record against Chen but that did not matter as the Taipei shuttler stamped his authority to knock the Indian out of the tournament.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The last time the pair faced against each other was way back in 2014 in the Malaysia Grand Prix Gold and a lot has changed since then as Thursday's match showed a huge gulf in the quality of the two players.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Chen jumped to a 5-0 lead early on and held to a healthy 11-5 lead at the break.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The Indian tried to make a comeback but he just could not find a way to extend the rallies with the Taipei shuttler pocketing the opening game comfortably.</p>.<p class="bodytext">In the second game, Sourabh took a 3-1 lead early on but the script changed quickly as Chen once again dominated the proceedings, marching ahead with quick burst of points.</p>.<p class="bodytext">At the break, Chen led 11-4 and the gap kept increasing as Sourabh crumbled.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Sourabh will next play at Vietnam Open Super 100 next week, before competing in Korea Open (September 24-29).</p>
<p class="title">Former champion Sourabh Verma suffered a straight-game loss to world number 2 Chou Tien Chen in the men's singles second round to draw curtains on India's campaign at the USD 500,000 Chinese Taipei Open badminton tournament here on Thursday.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The 26-year-old Sourabh, who won the Hyderabad Open last month, was no match for the top-seeded Chen, going down 12-21 10-21 in a match that lasted 30 minutes.</p>.<p class="bodytext">World number 38 Sourabh, the 2016 winner of this tournament, had come into the match with a 2-0 head-to-head record against Chen but that did not matter as the Taipei shuttler stamped his authority to knock the Indian out of the tournament.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The last time the pair faced against each other was way back in 2014 in the Malaysia Grand Prix Gold and a lot has changed since then as Thursday's match showed a huge gulf in the quality of the two players.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Chen jumped to a 5-0 lead early on and held to a healthy 11-5 lead at the break.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The Indian tried to make a comeback but he just could not find a way to extend the rallies with the Taipei shuttler pocketing the opening game comfortably.</p>.<p class="bodytext">In the second game, Sourabh took a 3-1 lead early on but the script changed quickly as Chen once again dominated the proceedings, marching ahead with quick burst of points.</p>.<p class="bodytext">At the break, Chen led 11-4 and the gap kept increasing as Sourabh crumbled.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Sourabh will next play at Vietnam Open Super 100 next week, before competing in Korea Open (September 24-29).</p>