Tags:
Journalism of Courage
After a splendid performance at the inaugural Indian Badminton League IBL,Indian shuttler Ajay Jayaram on Thursday suffered a shock defeat against lower-ranked Chinese Yuekun Chen in the opening round of the China Masters on Thursday. The world No. 24 Indian,who had beaten the likes of world No. 13 Wing ki Wong in Guangzhou,before defeating world no 5 Tien Minh Nguyen twice and world No. 9 Jan o Jorgensen in the IBL,could not recreate the magic at the Olympic Sports Center Xincheng Gymnasium here.
The Mumbai-based shuttler,who had played for champions Hyderabad HotshotsL,lost 14-21 21-23 to world number 30 Chen in a 36-minute men8217;s singles match. Jayaram could not play his natural game as Chen dominated the nets and didn8217;t allow the Indian to come any closer in the first game.
In the second game,Jayaram recovered from 0-4 down to move to a 10-7 lead at one stage. However,Chen was not ready to give up so easily and after a tough fight,it was the Chinese who had the last laugh. Jayaram will next play in the Japan Open.
The other Indian in fray,Anand Pawar too went down 21-12 14-21 16-21 in the second round to Sho Sasaki of Japan in a 55 minute duel. After winning the first game,the 27-year-old suffered his third defeat to Sasaki in as many clashes to end India8217;s campaign in the tournament.
World No. 37 Pawar,who got a walkover in the opening round,started off well and wrapped up the first game 21-12 against the 22nd-ranked Japanese opponent. However,Sasaki made a strong comeback in the second game and took a 8-0 lead. The seasoned Japanese maintained his lead to clinch the game and took the match to the third game.
