French Open badminton: Jayaram advances; Kashyap, Gurusaitdutt out

Paris: It wasn’t a great day for Indians at the $200,000 French Open Super Series as two of its three leading men’s singles shuttlers lost in the opening round at the Stade Pierre de Coubertin here Tuesday. While Mumbai’s Ajay Jayaram advanced to the second round, it was dead end for India’s top-ranked male Parupalli Kashyap and his citymate RMV Gurusaidutt. Mumbai’s Jayaram, in their first-ever encounter, beat Japanese Kazumasa Sakai with relative ease in 37 minutes. The World No.25 Indian won 21-16, 21-11. [caption id=“attachment_1188013” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Mumbai’s Ajay Jayaram advanced to the second round. Pic: Badminton Association of India[/caption] Later, China’s Chen Yuekun drubbed Gurusaidutt with ease in their first ever career meet. The Chinese ousted his higher ranked opponent 21-9, 21-14 in 31 minutes to progress further. Meanwhile, World No 13 Kashyap’s bad run continues as he lost his opener against World No.1 Lee Chong Wei of Malaysia. The Hyderabadi fought well in the first game, dragging the top seed to the end but eventually lost out. In the second game, Kashyap was drained of his energy and lost to the Malaysian 20-22, 12-21 in 38 minutes. The duo was playing their first match against each other since their quarterfinal meet at the London Olympics, where Kashyap suffered a similar story. Jayaram will take on Lee in the next round. It will be their sixth career meet, the first five going in favour of the Malaysian top seed. IANS