Ajay Jayaram Reaches Quarter-Finals of Swiss Grand Prix Gold
Ajay Jayaram prevailed over 13th seed Tzu Wei Wang of Chinese Taipei 21-17 21-16 to set up a clash with Japan's Kazumasa Sakai.
Indian shuttler Ajay Jayaram recorded a straight-game victory on Tzu Wei Wang of Chinese Taipei to reach the quarter-finals of USD 120,000 Swiss Grand Prix Gold badminton championship here on Thursday.
Jayaram, who had won the Dutch Open last year, prevailed over 13th seed Wang 21-17 21-16 in a 35-minute men's singles match to set up a clash with Japan's Kazumasa Sakai. (Saina Nehwal Regains Career-Best Second Rank)
Interestingly, the 27-year-old from Bangalore had beaten Wang early this month in the qualification round of All England Championship in Birmingham.
Jayaram had notched up a hard-fought 21-7 21-23 21-19 win over Belgium's Yuhan Tan to reach the prequarterfinals last night.
Anand Pawar, however, went down fighting 21-19 19-21 15-21 to Sakai in another prequarterfinal match that lasted for 57 minutes at St. Jakobshalle stadium.
Top seed K Srikanth and young B Sai Praneeth also reached the pre-quarterfinals.
Among other Indians, men's doubles pair of Pranaav Jerry Chopra and Akshay Dewalkar lost 17-21 13-21 to Indonesian duo of Angga Pratama and Ricky Karanda Suwardi.
Other Indian men's doubles pair of Manu Attri and B Sumeeth Reddy also faced defeat, going down 18-21 21-18 16-21 to another Indonesian pair of Wahyu Nayaka Arya Pankaryanira and Ade Yusuf.