Press Trust of India
Seoul, Sept 20: A fairytale ending eluded him as Indian shuttler Ajay Jayaram’s rampaging run was brought to a halt by defending champion and World No. 1 Chen Long of China in the final of the USD 6,00,000 Korea Open Super Series badminton tournament here Sunday.
After producing a giant-killing run to earn a maiden Super Series final appearance, Jayaram failed to breach the Chinese wall as his dreams of winning a title were dashed with a 14-21, 13-21 loss to current World Champion Long in a 40-minute men’s singles final. This was Jayaram’s second successive loss to Long, the first one coming last year at Hong Kong.
Jayaram started with a smash but stumbled on a series of errors to lose points in the first game. Long was equally erratic in the beginning and gave away some easy points. However, from four-all, the Chinese regrouped and started dominating proceedings as his smashes got sharper and he thrived on the Indian’s mistakes to build up a 9-5 lead.
Jayaram showed occasional sparks of brilliance and left Long completely stranded with a deceptive jump shot at 7-9 and with that clawed back at 9-9. However, Long produced two powerful smashes to go into the break with a two-point advantage at 11-9.
After the change of ends, the Chinese continued to dominate. He pounced on the loose shots of Jayaram and used his cross court smashes to telling effect. Long built up an 18-13 lead and closed out the game without much fuss to establish his supremacy.
The script didn’t change in the second game as after picking up a couple of points early on at the nets, Jayaram failed to find answers to Long’s superior game as the latter broke off from 5-5 to lead 11-6 at the interval. Long didn’t allow the Indian much scope to recover as he jumped with a four-point burst after the change of ends.
A backhand return took Long to match point at 20-12 and even though Jayaram saved a point, the Chinese closed the issue in the next opportunity. at the SK Handball stadium.
Jayaram had battled serious injuries and was out of action for most part of the last three years and even though he lost in the title clash here, it was indeed a creditable show from him in the event.