India’s Ajay Jayaram crashed out in the first round of the All England Badminton Superseries after losing to Huang Yuxiang 19-21, 13-21 on Wednesday.

Jayaram and Huang were involved in a close contest in the first game. The Chinese shuttler held on to his lead after surging ahead very early in the contest. Huang reeled off seven consecutive points at one stage, which proved decisive in the game. The Indian though fought back to stretch the game, but went down fighting as Huang held his nerve to see out the game.

The Indian upped his defensive game in the second, but yet again, Huang took the lead after falling behind early on, and didn’t look back. At one stage, the game was tight with the score 10-8 favouring the Huang. Jayaram ran out of steam after the break and Huang cashed in, bagging six consecutive points to seal victory.