Badminton Worlds: Kashyap, Jayaram advance; Ponnappa-Gadre crash out

Shuttler Ajay Jayaram notched up a stunning victory over higher-ranked Wing Ki Wong of Hong Kong, while Parupalli Kashyap survived a scare in the opening round of the men’s singles competition in the 2013 BWF World Championships here Monday. The 25-year-old Ajay, ranked 24th, was good in his attack as well as defence and played a patient game to beat world number 12 Wong 22-20, 17-21, 21-15 in a 64-minute duel. He will next take on Pablo Abian of Spain in the second round. However, world number 13 Kashyap had an unexpectedly tough encounter against 98th ranked Raul Must of Estonia. Raul troubled the Indian early in the match but ran out of steam as Kashyap managed a 19-21, 21-14, 21-9 win in 56 minutes. But it was a bad day in office for India’s doubles and mixed doubles pairs as they failed to cross the first hurdle. While the combinations of Aparna Balan and Arun Vishnu lost to Chinese Taipei’s Min Chun Liao and Hsiao Huan Chen 15-21 17-21 in the mixed doubles, Ashwini Ponnappa and Tarun Kona suffered a 18-21, 21-12, 19-21 defeat to Japan’s Hirokatsu Hashimoto and Miyuki Maeda in the opening round. [caption id=“attachment_1012879” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  World number 13 Kashyap had an unexpectedly tough encounter against 98th ranked Raul Must of Estonia. AFP[/caption] In the women’s doubles, Aparna and Siki Reddy N too lost in the opening round, going down to England’s Lauren Smith and Gabrielle White 15-21 17-21 in 34 minutes. In another match, Dane pair of Line Damkjaer Kruse and Marie Roepke ended the campaign of Pradnya Gadre and Ashwini Ponnappa with a 21-23, 21-18, 21-17 victory over the Indian pair in the women’s doubles event. The star of the day for India was Ajay who battled fatigue and lapse in concentration to get the better of his high-ranked opponent. “It was a good match. I knew it won’t be easy and I had to give everything. I tried to be patient as the shuttles were slow,” Ajay said. The Chennai-born shuttler played a dominating game and didn’t allow Wong to get near him, racing away to 20-16 lead at the Tianhe Indoor Stadium. However, Wong was not ready to let it go so easily as he clawed back but Ajay had the last laugh. “I started off well and maintained a good lead throughout the first game. I committed a few errors at 20-16 which helped him to draw level at 20-20. But I am happy I could squeeze past him with a couple of tight points,” Ajay said. However, in the second game, Ajay let go a 13-8 lead to allow Wong forge a comeback into the contest. “In the second game, I was 13-8 up but he started playing more rallies and I lost my patience. I eventually lost my lead at 17. I was struggling with my fitness as I had recovered from viral fever a week back,” he said. Ajay learnt from his mistakes and tried to cut down on errors in the decider. He gathered a good lead and didn’t let it go to eventually emerge victories. “I dug in deep in the final game, keeping the shuttle in play without conceding too many errors. I’m very happy with my performance today. I fought hard both mentally and physically. I need to play with the same focus and composure in the next round as well,” he said. Kashyap, who will next play Petr Koukal of Czech Republic, said irrespective of the ranking his rival in the opening round was a competent shuttler. “He (Raul) isn’t bad because some of these Europeans are very tricky. I wasn’t getting a good length in my clears and pushes but was getting better as the match progressed. I could dictate the pace in the second and the third game,” he said. Meanwhile, Saina Nehwal and P V Sindhu will start their campaign in the women’s singles tomorrow as they got a bye in the first round. PTI