To the delight of all Indians World No. 24 Ajay Jayaram and No.13 Parupalli Kashyap won first round on Day One of the World Championships at Guangzhou in China on Monday. On the other hand, each of India’s women’s and mixed doubles pairs bowed out. The pair of Pradnya Gadre and Ashwini Ponnappa lost to Line Damkjaer Kruse and Marie Roepke (DEN) by 23-21 18-21 17-21. The duo Aparna Balan and Siki Reddy N lost to Lauren Smith and Gabrielle White (GBR) by 15-21 17-21.
The 25-year-old Jayaram who banged World No. 12 Wing Ki Wong by 22-20 17-21 21-15 in 64 minutes will lock horns with Pablo Abian of Spain in the next round. Actually, Kashyap was stretched by Raul Must of Estonia before winning by 19-21 21-14 21-9 in 56 minutes.
Remarkably, Jayaram rushed to a comfortable lead in the first game but Wong struck back to draw level at 20-20 before Jayaram hauled the next two points to dominate the first game. Further, Wong carried forward with long rallies and tired the Indian to take the second game and push the match into the decider. Truly, Jayaram handled the pressure admirably to make a winning start in the final game.
Jayaram quoted that the shuttles were slow and he had to play patiently, waiting for his chances. He expressed that he is glad with the way he fought hard both mentally and physically. He is well aware that he needs to play with the same focus and composure in the subsequent round.
At the end of the day, Kashyap was made to work hard by Must before joining Jayaram in the subsequent round. Following a slow start, Kashyap lived up to his higher-ranked status and ruined the challenges posed by Must. In addition, Kashyap trailed in the decider before winning 12 consecutive points to grab the decider at 21-9 and earn the opportunity to meet 68th ranked Petr Koukal of Czech Republic.
On the other side, men’s doubles pair of Tarun Kona and Arun Vishnu have received walkover in the 1st round from Poland pair of Adam Cwalina and Przemyslav Wacha. Meanwhile, Kona and Vishnu will face 15th seed Alvent Yulianto Chandra and Markis Kido of Indonesia in the 2nd round. Notably, World No. 1 Lee Chong Wei of Malaysia and defending champion Lin Dan of China won first round comfortably.
