Ajay Jayaram will look to target highest-ever career ranking at upcoming World Championships

New Delhi: Ajay Jayaram has been on a bit of a hot streak, achieving his career-best ranking of number 13 in the world earlier in May this year. At the upcoming World Championships in Scotland, India’s second highest-ranked men’s player, will look to target his best-ever ranking and break into the top 10 in the world for the first time.

For that to happen, Jayaram will have to pass a stern test at the upcoming championships which starts on August 21. The thirteenth seed Indian ace is slated to play the fifth seed Chen Long of China provided both players win their first two matches.

But a good show in Scotland can really boost Jayaram’s surge considering that the World Championships (and the Olympics) carry the maximum number of ranking points in the sport.

If Jayaram can pass the Chinese test and somehow progress to the last eight, he should see it as a move forward. In terms of big tournaments, Jayram’s best show thus far has been the runner-up position at the Korea Open in 2015.

The Super Series tournament comes in at the fifth position as far as the slabs of badminton tournaments go with respect to importance (Olympics, World Championships, Super Series Masters Finals and Super Series Premier tournaments take the top four slabs).

Jayaram though has had trophy wins against his name. At the Dutch Open, which is a Grand Prix tournament, he has triumphed twice, in 2014 and 2015. He was also the runner-up at the same tournament in 2010 and 2016.

He has also won an International Challenge tournament. It was the Czech International in 2010. Then three times he has won an International Series tournament. They were the wins at the Smiling Fish International in 2010, the Waikato International in 2008 and the North Shore City International, also in 2008.