Ajay Jayaram staves off spirited challenge from Japan at BWF Tour

Indian shuttler Ajay Jayaram staved off a spirited challenge from Japan's Hashiru Shimono before Sourabh Verma also won to enter the second round of the Chinese Taipei BWF World Tour Super 300 tournament here Wednesday.

Jayaram, who had reached the finals at Vietnam Open and White Nights, defeated Hashiru 18-21 21-17 21-9 within an hour to set up a second-round clash with Denmark's Kim Bruun next.

Verma beat local player Chia Hao Lee 18-21, 21-16, 21-13 in a 52-minute match. He lost the first game and then bounced back in style to clinch the issue.

However, young Sri Krishna Priya Kudaravalli couldn't cross the opening hurdle, despite giving her everything as she went down 21-23 20-22 to Lin Ying Chun of Chinese Taipei.

Among others, Abhishek Yeligar and Mugdha Agrey too flopped in the opening round matches as they went down without a fight.

While Abhishek was shown the door by fifth seed Jan O Jorgensen of Denmark 5-21 6-21 in men's singles, seventh seed Soniia Cheah of Malaysia ended Mugdha's campaign with a 21-11 21-4 win.

India's Tarun Kona and his Malaysian partner Lim Khim Wah also suffered the same fate, losing 13-21 10-21 to fourth-seeded Ong Yew Sin and Teo Ee Yi of Malaysia.