Vietnam Open | Ajay Jayaram, Rituparna Das secure quarter-final spot

In the absence of young prodigy, Lakshya Sen, Mumbai-born men’s singles shuttler Ajay Jayaram has surely stepped up his game at the ongoing Super 100 BWF tournament in Vietnam as he secured a spot in the quarter-finals. Jayaram made his way through a hard-fought win against first seed Ygor Coelho of Brazil in the third round of the Vietnam Open. The 30-year old shuttler defeated Coelho in straight sets by a score of 22-20, 21-14 in a match that lasted 34 minutes. 

Ajay’s compatriot, Mithun Manjunath, also earned a quarter-final berth in the men’s singles event after he was made to work hard in a win against Thailand’s Adulrach Namkul. Manjunath beat the Thai player by a margin of 18-21, 21-13, 21-19 in match that went on for almost an hour. However, it was the end of the road for Kartik Jindal, who was knocked out of the tournament by Canadian player Xiaodong Sheng by a 21-10, 24-22 straight-set loss. Jindal tried to fight back in the second game but fell short of drawing level by just a couple of points.

However, it was good news for India in the women’s singles category as former national champion - Rituparna Das continued her impressive form with a crushing 21-8, 21-14 victory over Chinese Taipei’s Sung Shuo Yun in the third of the Vietnam Open. Das was clearly the dominant player over the course of the match as she won the game within just 26 minutes and secured a spot in the quarter-finals at Ho Chi Minh City.