I am of the view that Ajay Jayram will be the next S Nehwal of the Indian men singles players. He played very well against LCW in the semi-final match of the 2010 MOGPG and led in both games. He had no fear at all for LCW. Give AJ one more year and I think we will be talking a lot about him.
Are you sure? Well, he is not a bad player, defeating Chan Yan Kit. His attitude is right too. But he makes too many mistakes, especially regarding smashes, and his backhand defense is poorly, exploited by LCW after the 2nd game mid-game interval. But of course, he's only 22, plenty of time to improve. But being the next S. Nehwal, that's too much.
I've just read Ajay Jayaram now play in for a French club, "Lagardère Paris Racing", located in Paris. He won his first MS team match, but also his XD match, playing with Laura Choinet, member of the French national team and the best French XD pair...
Money talks lah. I would'nt be surprised if Ajay were to play for France in due due course just like Pi Hongyan. It's a loss for India.
Yup it's possible.... Something I wonder, is how can a club afford the travel (plane+hôtel) from India to France... The French clubs aren't that rich...
There must be a sponsor somewhere just like KLRC sponsoring Zhou Mi when she was in the doldrums and she rose to be world no. 1 for a while. I just hope that she would not be sidelined for two years for testing positive for performance enhancers. She claimed that it was a medication for a flu she caught when she played in Singapore and Indonesia. If she is suspended she would be past her prime when she resumes competitive playing and that would be a shame.
I don't think so. Most of the top Indian players stay and play/practise abroad. But they don't continue to play under Indian flag. This is strange but accepted among Indian fans simply because they know that our sporting infrastructure is pathetic and they may not get good training/practise partner here. Vishwanathan Anand (Chess) lives in Spain, Leander Paes/Mahesh Bhupati/Rohan Bopanna (all tennis doubles) stay in US, Gagan Narang/Abhinav Bindra (shooting) live in Germany and so on...
I'll go out on a limb and say that Ajay Jayaram is a potential diamond in the rough. If he gets the correct backing and coaching, and if he puts his full efforts into it, he can be a world beater in the next 2-3 years.
It's good for Ajay to play and win the small satellite tournaments to build up confidence and strength before playing the biggies. That was how WX and JYJ moved up the ranks to be world beaters.
