Indian shuttler Ajay Jayaram notched up a straight-game win over Japan’s Kazumasa Sakai but his compatriots Parupalli Kashyap and RMV Gurusaidutt failed to cross the first hurdle in the French Super Series in Paris.
World number 25 Ajay rode on his smashes and better net play to get across Kazumasa 21-16 21-11 in a 38-minute men’s singles match last night.
For Kashyap, it was always an uphill task to tame the top seed and world number one Lee Chong Wei of Malaysia and the Indian did play his heart out in the first game but the Malaysian still prevailed 22-20 21-12 at the end of the 37-minute battle.
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Gurusaidutt, however, could not put up a fight in the first game but he tried to make a comeback in the second before going down 9-21 14-21 to Chen Yuekun of China in another first round match at the Stade Pierre de Coubertin here.