Kidambi Srikanth and Ajay Jayaram are set to face each other in the quarter-finals of the Yonex Japan Open 2016 for a place in the semi-finals.
Srikanth defeated fellow Indian Kashyap Parupalli in an intense pre-quarter fixture earlier today. He came back from being 1-0 down after losing the first set 14-21, to win the next two sets 21-14 and 23-21 thus winning the best of three match 2-1. The battle went on for 62 minutes. Kashyap made his comeback after recovering from an injury that threatened his career.
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Jayaram, on the other hand, overcame Indonesian Sony Dwi Kuncoro's challenge as he outclassed him 2-0 winning the two sets 21-19 and 23-21. He avenged his loss against Kuncoro in the 2013 Honk Kong Open in a match that lasted 46 minutes.
Event: Men's Singles Quarterfinal
Match up: Srikanth K.(Ind) vs Jayaram A.(Ind)
Local Time (IST): 5.30am, 22 September, 2016.
Srikanth has won 4 of his previous 5 matches while Jayaram has also been in good form and has won 4 of his last 5 matches. In the head to head battle, Jayaram has never been able to get the better of Srikanth in their two previous meetings.
The 23-year-old Srikanth qualified for the Rio Olympics earlier this year and performed commendably well keeping in mind that this was his first Olympics. He showed promise as he entered the quarter-finals where he was drawn against Lin Dan. The current world number 11, fought tooth and nail with the much-experienced opponent and managed to win one game before eventually losing the match.
Srikanth had tweeted before his first round match in the Yonex Japan Open.
Ajay Jayaram had earlier crashed out of the US Open Grand Prix Gold after losing to Kanta Tsuneyama of Japan 21-10 21-14 in the semi-finals. This was Jayaram’s second consecutive loss in the semifinal stage in as many competitions.
It will be interesting to see which Indian makes it to the semifinals and certainly will be a great watch for badminton fans.
