Sunday turned out to be a Super Sunday for Indian badminton as the country bagged two international titles across two continents. Forgotten warrior Ajay Jayaram reminded once again of his fighting prowess when he retained the Dutch Open Grand Prix. Earlier, in the afternoon budding doubles duo of Krishna Prasad Garaga and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy clinched boys doubles gold in the Badminton Asia Championships in Kudus, Indonesia.
Jayaram, who surprised everyone when he stormed into the finals of the Korea Open last month, continued his rich vein of form as he outclassed Raul Must of Indonesia in straight games 21-12, 21-18. The third seeded Indian dominated the contest right from the start.
He was off in a flash in the first game with a 4-0 lead and even before Must warmed up Jayaram stretched the lead to 11-6 by the break. Thereafter, he widened the margin and won the first game at 21-12.
In the second Must secured the first four points. But once Jayaram got adjusted to the drift he wiped off the deficit and maintained a healthy lead throughout the second game. The Mumbai shuttler, who trains under Tom John, was excited after defending the title. “It's been an amazing week. Delighted to have successfully defended the title. Being the highest ranked player in the tournament and having had a good run in my previous tournament, there was definitely a lot of pressure going into the tournament. But I enjoyed myself on the court,” said Jayaram, who will now move to Denmark for the Super Series Premier.
