End of the road for Indian men in singles event of Swiss Open Grand Prix Gold – Badminton News
It was certainly the end of times for India in the Men’s singles event as their shuttlers crashed out of Swiss Open Grand Prix Gold on March 14, 2012.
The prime Indian shuttlers Ajay Jayaram, Parupalli Kashyap along with young Sourabh Varma failed to shine in the second round of the tournament and buried all Indian hopes in the Men’s singles event.
The biggest hope for the country Ajay Jayaram was beaten by Pedro Martins of Portugal while the veteran shuttler P. Kashyap lost to Tien Minh Nguyen before the youngster Sourabh Varma went down against the World Number 18 shuttler Shon Wan Ho.
The top Indian player Ajay Jayaram, currently ranked 26 in world rankings, shocked the country by losing to an unknown Portuguese player in a straight-set match.
The Men’s singles expert was strong on paper but his competitor Pedro Martins outclassed him in a tussle which prolonged to 32 minutes. He had to surrender when the scorers displayed the final 21-16 and 21-16 score in Portugal’s favour.
The World Number 30 shuttler Parupalli Kashyap was the next to be defeated. Though he put up some good resistance against Tien Minh but still he could not stop his rival from snatching the victory in 38 minutes.
The Vietnamese player put his expedition to halt by registering a straight-set win with a concluding 21-13 and 21-18 margin.
The young Sourabh Varma, who stunned World Number 19 Wong Wing Ki in first round, could not repeat his performance in the second round.
He was completely harmless and armless against Shon Wan Ho in a 30-minute tussle. The Korean registered his class through his powerful strokes and buried the last Indian hope with convincing figures of 21-10 and 21-9.
The second day of Swiss Open turned into doomsday and this blow of three consecutive failures booked tickets to home for all male shuttlers of the Men’s singles category.
Now India has its stake just in the Women’s singles and Men’s doubles event where Saina Nehwal and the male duo Rupesh Kumar-Sanave Thomas are still in the race for glory in Swiss Open Grand Prix Gold.
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