Fit-again Jayaram, Sourabh eye good run at NZ Open

Jayaram, who returned to action at the China Masters early this month after recovering from a hamstring injury that took nearly eight months to heal, opens his campaign against fourth seed Hsu Jen Hao from Chinese Taipei. “It’s been very long recovery process for me. I played in China but it didn’t go well. But my leg seemed fine. Last two weeks training has gone better. So, hopefully these two tournaments would turn out better for me,” said Jayaram, who was world no. 15 in July last year. 

“I am trying not to expect too much and just enjoy the game. I’ve been in this situation before and know that it’s important to give yourself time to get back to form.” Sourabh, who had suffered an ankle injury after Swiss Open, will make a comeback at the event taking on Australia’s Abhinav Manota in the opening round. 

“After Swiss open, I got injured while training in India. It was an ankle injury. I had to miss Orleans and Finland (events) last month. But now I’m fit again to play. So let’s see how it goes,” he said. Singapore Open champion B Sai Praneeth, who had lost to Olympic champion Chen Long in the second round of Asia Championship last week, will face Israel’s Misha Zilberman, while former national champion Sameer Verma will square up against Indonesian Sony Dwi Kuncoro in another men’s singles match. Lakshya Sen will fight it out with June Wei Cheam in the opening round.