BWF World championship: Ajay upsets world number 12 in first round

Mumbai boy Ajay Jayaram fought back fatigue and an experienced opponent to bring alive his BWF World Championship campaign with a 22-20, 17-21, 21-15 victory over 12^th seed Wing Ki Wong of Hong Kong.

The 25-year-old, who had upset 15^th seed Kenechi Tago of Japan in the last edition of the championship at this very stage, went into the match as an underdog and many would not have given him much changes against a rally player, especially because he had barely recovered from illness a week ago and was to test his fitness for the first time in a competitive match.

Aware of his opponents rallying tactics and slow shuttle speed, Ajay took the initiative from the start and the game plan paid off as he earned four game points. However, a few errors from the Indian allowed Wong to stage a comeback and level the scores before Ajay managed to scrape through.

Ajay looked set to race through the match when he opened up a 13-8 lead in the second game but began losing patience as Wong began engaging him in long rallies and the Indian Oil employee began to feel tired.

To Ajay’s credit, the 2010 Czech International champion quickly regained his composure after change of ends and concentrated on keeping down the errors and finally prevailed 21-15 to set up a second round clash against the winner of the match between Spain’s Pablo Abian and Osleni Guerrero of Cuba.

“I am very happy with my performance today. I fought hard both mentally and physically. I dug in deep in the decider, keeping the shuttle in play... I need to play with the same focus and composure in the next round as well,” he added.

In the other men’s singles match, 13^th seed P Kashyap had to rally from a game down to beat Estonia’s Raul Must 19-21, 21-14, 21-9 to set up a second round clash against Petr Koukal of Czech Republic.

While Ajay and Kashyap made a winning start, India’s challenge in mixed doubles and women’s doubles came to a tame end in the first round itself.

Results (first round):

Men’s singles: Ajay Jayaram bt 12-Wing Ki Wong (HKG) 22-20, 17-21, 21-15; 13-P Kashyap bt  Raul Must (EST) 19-21, 21-14, 21-9

Mixed doubles: Aparna Balan/Arun Vishnu lost to Min Chun Liao/Hsiao Huan Chen (TPE) 21-16, 21-16; Ashwini Ponnappa/K Tarun lost to Miyuki Maeda/Hirokatsu Hashimoto 21-18, 12-21, 21-19

Women’s doubles: Aparna Balan/N Sikki Reddy lost to Lauren Smith/Gabrielle White (ENG) 21-15, 21-17; Ashwini Ponnappa/Pradnya Gadre lost to Line Damkjaer Kruse/Marie Roepke 21-23, 21-18, 21-17