Will Ajay Jayaram be able to elevate his status at the international level? – Badminton Feature
If someone has to name a nation that is becoming a major threat for the super powers of badminton world, India would be the right choice as its campaigners are catching up at great pace and their performance in last few years clearly shows that.
Saina Nehwal, P. V. Sindhu, Jwala Gutta, Ashwini Ponnappa, Parupalli Kashyap and last but not the least Ajay Jayaram are the most prominent shuttlers who have registered their presence in the arena.
Especially, the young Men’s Singles expert Ajay Jayaram has performed exceptionally well in the recent past and now the badminton pundits are declaring him the future hope along with his senior companion P. Kashyap.
The 25-year-old shuttler rose to prominence when he bagged two consecutive titles, the 2010 Smiling Fish International Series and Czech International. He also escorted his country to the final round of 2010 Dutch Open and earned great deal of respect despite
of losing to Sho Sasaki of Japan.
Both shuttlers were head-to-head in title match of 2011 Vietnam Open but the Indian lad could not rise on his toes and raised a runner-up trophy in this Grand Prix tournament.
During the 2011 season, Ajay Jayaram was fielded in esteemed events like All England Open, Badminton Asia Championships and BWF World Championships but lack of experience proved the greatest hurdle on his way to glory.
However, he gained confidence by competing world class shuttlers like Lee Chong Wei, Chen Jin, Peter Hoeg Gade and Lee Hyun Il. His biggest achievement was to surpass the seasoned Vietnamese campaigner Tien Minh Nguyen.
World Number 27 Ajay Jayaram started his next season by representing the country in 2012 Thomas Cup Preliminaries. He proved his worth by giving a tough time to the Malaysian badminton king Chong Wei and the experienced Taipei shuttler Hsu Jen Hao.
The selectors showed confidence in his abilities and fielded him in the oldest tournament of the world, All England Open, but Ajay Jayaram could not clear the first round and crashed out in a disgraceful manner.
He did not lose heart and reclaimed a respectable position by making into the pre quarter-finals of Australian Open GP Gold. This time he played with great conviction and walked tall despite of kneeling down in front of the Taipei challenger Shon Wan Ho.
Ajay’s next task was to serve notice of his potential in the India Open but luck was not on his side as Lee Chong Wei sent him packing with a 2-1 victory.
However, he grabbed all the attention by powering his way into the semi-finals of China Masters. He alarmed all the contestants by thrashing World Number nine shuttler Kenichi Tago. He registered a straight-set win over the higher-ranked Japanese campaigner
and then employed this confidence all the way to the second last round of this tournament.
Ajay Jayaram’s latest outing was 2012 French Open where he challenged the veteran Dane Peter Gade and played impeccable badminton in this hard fought battle. He put all of his brilliance in the game and earned a great deal of admiration for his fighting
spirit.
Now the Indian lad will be participating in two back-to-back home events, India International Challenge and 2012 India Open GP and these badminton tournaments will be a test case for him.
Ajay Jayaram will have to put an extra effort to gain a permanent spot in the list of world beaters and it is right time for him to elevate his class.
The views expressed in this article are the writer's own and in no way represent Bettor.com's official editorial policy.
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