06 August,2013 12:49 AM IST | | Sundari Iyer
Local lad Jayaram, ranked 24 in the world, avenged his loss to Wong at the China Open a couple of years ago, beating him 22-20, 17-21, 21-15 in 64 minutes.
He will take on Pablo Abian of Spain in the second round on Wednesday. His father Jayaram Gopal said there were reasons for double celebrations for the family yesterday.
They celebrated the first birthday of Ajay's niece, Avni and nephew, Arjun (children of his sister Aruna) and also his win. u00a0
"We were celebrating my daughter's twins' first birthday when we got a call from Ajay saying that he defeated Wong. The win was special as it came after Ajay just recovered from a bout of viral fever. He missed a week's practice due to it," said Gopal.
"I am happy that he played well and won. I hope he is able to continue his fine form in the tournament. We didn't get to see the live scores in the morning. But when he said that he won against a difficult player, our joy was doubled."
He added, "Ajay said he was exhausted, maybe because of his recovery from the fever he had. What's more important for us is that he played well.
Wednesday's match is a crucial one for him as he has a 1-1 head-to-head against Abian."u00a0