Ajay Jayaram pulls out of Maharashtra Badminton League

NAGPUR: The Maharashtra Badminton League (MBL) and the Flamboyant Flamingos suffered a major blow when Ajay Jayaram pulled out from the forthcoming professional event.
The World No. 28 Jayaram is the second best singles player in the country after P Kashyap who is currently ranked 21 in IBF rankings. The late withdrawal of Jayaram has certainly robbed the tournament of one quality player.
The tall Mumbai-based shuttler was bought by Flamingos for Rs 59,000 in the players' auction held in Pune on March 20. The franchisee, Sohamm Group of Ahmednagar, had high hopes from the in-form player but his withdrawal has dented their chances in the MBL which kick offs in Pune on May 6.
The MBL organising secretary Uday Sane confirmed Jayaram's withdrawal and said it has been a big loss to the league.
"Ajay communicated to us that he has to play quarterfinals of the French League next month and he has already committed his availability to his team in France. It would have been better had he told us this before the auction. It would have allowed the franchise to plan accordingly," Sane told TOI on Sunday.
Sagar Chopda, who was not part of the auction, will replace Jayaram in the Flamingos team. "Both the franchisee and player (Chopda) agreed for the base price of Rs 30,000," added Sane.
Flamingos coach Ravi Kunte admitted that Jayaram's absence will make a big difference to their side. "Ajay is a quality player and he has been performing really well on the international circuit in the last few months. We are helpless since he has to do duty for his European club at the same time. It will be a big task for Sagar to replace Ajay. Sagar is recovering from his injury and may not be able to play at his best," said Kunte.
Chopda had a knee operation and has not played since January. He has just started playing last week. "We have a couple of weeks before the league starts. We just hope Sagar recovers fully before that," said Kunte.
Nagpur District champion Tom Thomas, who is also part of the Flamingos squad, was disappointed by Jayaram's last-minute withdrawal. "It would have been a great learning experience for me to play alongside Ajay," said Tom.
Kunte hinted that Tom will now have to play singles in place of Jayaram.