JOIN USTop-ranked Indian shuttler in the international circuit, Ajay Jayaram will be facing the biggest test of his career yet in the coming weeks as the youngster aims to seal his place in London Olympics.
Ajay, who has a world ranking of 27, will be competing in the Asian championship in Qingdao (China) from April 17-22 and India Open Superseries in New Delhi, scheduled to be played from April 24-29 at the Siri Fort Complex. Ajay will meet Chinese Taipei’s world no 35 Hsu Jen Hao in the first round at the Asian meet while he faces a stiff first-round challenge from world No 20 Rajiv Ouseph of England in the Indian Open.
“Yes, next two weeks are very much important for me. I am feeling a bit of pressure but I think that’s always good,” said Ajay, who is training under noted badminton coach Tom John for the last two years.
With the above two meets being the last qualifying events ahead of the London Games, the 24-year-old will have to stay on as the top-ranked Indian shuttler to qualify for the mega event. “I am quite confident of coming up with a better show. I have been training with Tom for some time now and he made several changes to my game. The training has worked wonders for me. You can see that in my recent results too,” pointed out Ajay, who will be leaving for Qingdao from Delhi on Saturday night.
Ajay (34842 points) enjoys 1126-point lead over his nearest rival P Kashyap (33716.9), who is ranked 31.
Ajay, who has been training in Lucknow, shifted his base along with Tom this month to the Koramangala Club here. Apart from Ajay, Anup Sridhar, Jacqueline Rose Kunnath, Prakash Jolly have started training at the Koramangala Club while Aditi Mutatkar and five more top shuttlers will be joining them soon.
“We will be starting an academy soon here,” said Thomas Kunnath, the chairman of the yet-to-be-named academy.