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

Ajay Jayaram; (r) ShuttlerJayaram with his fiance 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 life - his wedding to Soumya Ravi on April 6 in Bangalore.

Besides 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 No.13 begins the ISB's orientation program in Hyderabad on April 2.

Jayaram told www.mid-day.com that though the retirement announcement hasn't 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 [announcement]."

When 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 can't wait for both - the wedding and my MBA program. She's finishing her MBA currently and will be starting as a product manager at a startup in Bangalore in a few months' time."

Meanwhile, Jayaram, who was World No.68 on the day of his retirement, remarked that with rankings being frozen during the COVID-19, 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 semi-finals in 2020] and then COVID-19 hit. It was an uncertain time, but I was positive and hopeful. Prior to COVID-19, I knew I had a couple of more years left. But with fewer tournaments being held in 2021, I wasn't getting an entry. By mid-2021, I started to think about exploring something new since rankings were frozen and it was almost close to impossible for a low-ranked 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 (2010-2017) and Anup Sridhar (2019 onwards).

Jayaram 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 August-September 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 it's a great transition to make. So I gave my GMAT and applied to ISB. I luckily got in there," he said.

Speaking 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 doesn't 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.