Tags:
Journalism of Courage
Ahead of the main round at the India Open Super series,one player can claim to have the toughest match of them all,going by rankings. Ajay Jayaram will be playing World No.1 Lee Chong Wei of Malaysia. The 24 year-old, however betrays few signs of nerves.
I havent done anything differently for the match. I practiced at 7.30 am. Ive watched some videos of Chong Wei,but I do that before every match. In the evening Ill do some light training. And I had a hair cut, says the World No. 29. Just a regular hair cut,nothing special for Lee Chong Wei, he adds.
Jayaram has played Wei once before,at the Malaysia Grand Prix last year. He lost in half an hour,16-21 13-21. Before the match I was quite edgy. For the first few points,I was in complete awe of him. I soon realised that while he may be an exceptional badminton player,he isnt superhuman. He is beatable. If you hit a really good smash or a drop,no matter how good a player is,he will struggle to get it back into play. I started playing more aggressively and though I lost I think I did fairly well, he says.
Knowing he already has a tough match,Jayaram says there is no point putting extra pressure on himself. That means finding the positives about everything in his opening match. Everyone says I have got the worst draw,that I have to play the number one seed in the first round itself,but I cant afford to look at it like that, he says.
Over the last year,Jayaram has moved steadily up the rankings,from 71 to inside the top 30. Jayaram,however,isnt blind to the prospect of going home early. Im 24. This is just the beginning of my career. Not everyone gets a chance to play the World No. 1.
