LEE OVERCOMES CHALLENGE TO SECURE FIRST WIN AT INDIA OPEN

By P. Vijian

NEW DELHI, April 27 (Bernama) -- World's top shuttler Lee Chong Wei
opened his India Open Superseries campaign with a win against India's Ajay
Jayaram today, but not without unexpected strong challenge from the young
player.

Despite being stretched by the Indian on several occasions, forcing Lee to
plough back quickly into the game, the Malaysian needed only 37 minutes to
nudge out his opponent from the tournament. Lee won 21-19, 21-18.

"I took it easy and wanted to enjoy the game. I got adjusted to the wind and
shuttle speed. It was quite an easy game, I have beaten him before," Lee told
the media after his victory.

The 28-year-old Lee is yet to win the Indian Open title, now upgraded to a
super series, and his last outing was a disastrous one, when he lost in the
first round in 2009 due to food poisoning.

In Wednesday's match, an experienced Lee managed to contain the energetic
Ajay, at times threatened by picking quick points to dominate the game,
especially in the midst of the second match where he led from the 13th point
onwards.

But the top-seeded steady Lee was not rattled by the speedy opponent and
easily sealed the victory.

With the win, Lee would take on South Korea's Lee Hyun Il tomorrow, who
defeated Indonesia's Dionysius Hayom Rumbaka 21-16, 21-19.

Earlier in the morning, Malaysia's men doubles pair Mohd Zakry Abdul
Latif-Thien How Hoon defeated India's Utsav Mihsra-Ravinder Singh 21-19, 21-17.

The India Open being held at the Sri Fort Sports Complex in Delhi, from
April 26 to May 1, offers US$200,000 (RM600,000) in prize money.