Almere: Indian shuttler Ajay Jayaram clinched the $50,000 Dutch Open Grand Prix on Sunday, beating Indonesia’s Ihsan Maulana Mustofa 10-11, 11-6, 11-7, 1-11, 11-9 in the men’s singles final which lasted 46 minutes to bag his maiden Grand Prix title at the Topsportcentrum Almere.
Jayaram got off to a bad start, losing the closely-contested first game 10-11. But he came back strongly to pocket the next two games easily 11-6, 11-7, before losing it completely in the fourth game to lose 1-11.
However, Jayaram regained his concentration and showed tremendous fighting ability to wrap up the final game 11-9 to claim his first Grand Prix title.
Coach Vimal Kumar said it was a creditable performance from Jayaram and good for Indian badminton.
“Jayaram has had injuries in recent times. Despite that, he has won a Grand Prix title. It’s his career-best performance and I congratulate him,” Vimal said.
“This is good for Indian badminton as the country has now got some players who can win tournament of Grand Prix level and above. I had always thought that Jayaram has got the capability to win this kind of tournaments,” added Vimal.
BWF has been trying out the 11 x 5 new scoring system in the Grand Prix level and will have a final review at the new system next month.
