Mumbai: Indian‘s ‘aspiration’, which was driven to Korea Open, to reach finals, was dropped abruptly in between. Indian shuttler Ajay Jayaram missed the boat and backslides at men’s singles of the Super Series event, leading India’s journey, ending to a disheartening destination.
Jayaram, who played skillfully to reach quarters by defeating Huang Yuxiang of China, lost the game against Lee Hyun II. Jayaram, in spite of holding a 0-2 head-to-head record against Lee Hyun Il, lost 23-25, 13-21 after a 44-minute battle.
Jayaram, ranked 27th in the world was fighting with world No.20 Lee Hyun II of Korea at the Seong-nam Indoor Stadium. The match went very exciting with Indian leading the match. Jayaram was 14-11 ahead at one stage but Lee caught up with a seven-point burst and misbalanced the weight. Lee reached the game points at 20-17 but Jayaram tactfully managed to save three game points and was in fact 23-22 up, but he could not finish it as the local shuttler held the bragging rights.
When the second game started, hopes raised with the notion that by the time Jayaram must have understood his rival’s steps. As the second game commenced, Jayaram could not play his usual game as the Korean broke off at 4-4 and slowly moved ahead. Such an attack and tactic crumble Indian’s game.
Jayaram had lost to Lee at the Canada Open earlier this year.