Post retirement, Ajay Jayaram all set for wedding with Soumya Ravi

Just a few days after Ajay Jayaram announced his retirement from professional badminton in an emotional Instagram post he gears up for his second innings in lifemdashhis wedding to Soumya Ravi on April 6 in BangaloreBesides the wedding Jayaram 34 is excited about his Master of Business Administration MBA at the Indian School of Business ISB in Hyderabad The former World No13 begins the ISBs orientation program in Hyderabad on April 2Jayaram told wwwmiddaycom that though the retirement announcement hasnt sunk in yet he is looking forward to the other opportunities life has to offer When asked about the decision to make the announcement regarding his retirement on Saturday Jayaram said My MBA course starts in April but the decision to retire had been taken long ago Since the orientation is on April 2and the wedding is on April 6 I had to do that announcementWhen asked how he met Soumya and what she did Jayaram replied Soumya is a Tamilian from Delhi and we met through common friends in Bangalore I cant wait for bothmdashthe wedding and my MBA program Shes finishing her MBA currently and will be starting as a product manager at a startup in Bangalore in a few months timeMeanwhile Jayaram who was World No68 on the day of his retirement remarked that with rankings being frozen during the COVID19 it was getting tougher for him to continue playing I think by the end of 2019 and the start of 2020 I just got back to playing after my injury I did well at the Spain Masters he beat Kidambi Srikanth in the second round and lost to Kunlavut Vitidsarn of Thailand in the semifinals in 2020 and then COVID19 hit It was an uncertain time but I was positive and hopeful Prior to COVID19 I knew I had a couple of more years left But with fewer tournaments being held in 2021 I wasnt getting an entry By mid2021 I started to think about exploring something new since rankings were frozen and it was almost close to impossible for a lowranked player to get back up As hard as giving up competitive badminton was I had to sooner or later This was the apt time explained Jayaram who trained under Tom John 20102017 and Anup Sridhar 2019 onwardsJayaram revealed that speaking to former India hockey captain Viren Rasquinha who did an MBA from ISB and is currently the COO at Olympic Gold Quest gave him clarity I always wanted to pursue higher education So I started taking that possibility seriously around AugustSeptember last year I had seen Viren Rasquinha who did his MBA from ISB and went on to become the COO at OGQ I spoke to Viren and he was very positive and told me that its a great transition to make So I gave my GMAT and applied to ISB I luckily got in there he saidSpeaking about what he would like to do after the course he said there are a lot of options but he cannot pinpoint any right now There is a lot of knowledge I would like to give back to the sport There are a lot of flaws in the system and I could make a lot of difference There are a lot of options like coaching there is a gap since Mumbai doesnt really have an academy to look forward to like in Bangalore or Hyderabad administration art and a lot more But this MBA will give me clarity on where my interest lies he signed off