Jayaram finishes runner-up in Korea
Ajay Jayaram drew admiration for his tenacious defense, but the Mumbai shuttler was unable to stop world number one Chen Long in the final of the Korea Open Superseries badminton in Seoul.
China’s Chen, the defending champion, won his fourth Superseries title of the year with a 21-14, 21-13 victory over the Indian who was playing in his first-ever Superseries final on his 28th birthday.
“I couldn’t get a good length; he was everywhere and it wasn’t easy,” Jayaram said. “When it didn’t go to plan, I cracked, I started lifting too much.”
Chen, the world champion, took points at will with his powerful smashes that Jayaram was unable to stop. The match lasted 39 minutes.
“He’s got a good reach, you don’t get points easily, and he’s accurate,” Jayaram said about the Chinese “I had to control the net, I did to some extent, but couldn’t go all the way,” added Jayaram, who was sidelined for six months last year owing to a shoulder injury.
“He is relentless in his style of play. He can consistently keep going. And to crack him I need to be a little more steady and confident about sticking in with him in long rallies. I knew it was going to be hard going into the finals. I started off well by mixing my attack from the back and the net. But he got back more shuttles than I expected. So I found it difficult to sustain the pressure. I did have a couple of chances which I felt I couldn’t capitalise on. All credit to Chen Long though. He played a percentage game and didn’t falter much.”
National coach P Gopichand said Jayaram played well. “I think Ajay played well but just the pure strength of Chen Long in ensuring that he doesn’t make any mistakes and quality of his net and lifts is what made it difficult for Ajay,” the former All-England champion told The Indian Express newspaper.
“Normally with opponents who make mistakes it’s a different scenario. But with Chen, it is important that you stay in the match all the time and are composed. If you are under little pressure he will crack down heavily and that’s what happened,” Gopichand added.
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