Harsheel Dani clinches Dutch Open International

New Delhi, April 15: India's Harsheel Dani recovered from a game down to get the better of Denmark's Mads Christophersen to clinch the Dutch International badminton title in Wateringen, Netherlands.

Dani, a former junior national champion, clinched his maiden crown of the season with a 15-21, 21-12, 21-13 victory over world no 149 Mads in a 47-minute clash.

The 22-year-old, who was left on the sidelines for almost eight months last year due to an ankle injury, didn't drop a game on his way to the final but he found the going tough initially in the summit clash.

#badminton @harsheel_dani dropped a game for the first time in the Dutch International against Mads Christophersen but that did not stop him from clinching the title with a 15-21, 21-12, 21-13 win on Sunday pic.twitter.com/0edHHt7meb

— Abhijeet Kulkarni (@abk6580) April 14, 2019

Dani made simple errors in the opening game to concede the advantage to Mads but he got his bearing right in the second game and took the match to decider.

"I made a slow start in the first game. I made too many mistakes from my end, plus the player had a different style of play but in the second and the third game I was very steady and kept rallying till I didn't get the chance to finish," Dani told PTI.

"I'm improving step by step. It is an important win for me. It gave me a big boost to my confidence and motivation. "I will be next playing Danish International Challenge and Slovenia series," added the Mumbai lad, who had finished at the quarterfinals of Senior National Championship in February.

Dani had also won the Ghana International and finished runners-up at Polish International last year.