Shuttler Jayaram seeded third at Russian Open

Indian shuttler Ajay Jayaram has been seeded No.3 in men's singles at the $50,000 Russian Open Grand Prix which will be played at the Sport Hall Olympic here from July 21 to 26.

The Mumbaikar will open his campaign against South Africa's Prakash Vijaynath. Men's singles is the only category in the tournament which has a Round of 64 as the other four sections are Rounds of 32.

In women's singles, the Indian challenge will be led by P.C. Thulasi, who will be up against Estonia's Kati Tolmoff in the first round, and Tanvi Lad, who will face local girl Victoria Slobodjanuk.

Following their brilliant outing at the US Open Grand Prix Gold in June where they reached the final, World No.24 men's doubles pair Manu Attri and B. Sumeeth Reddy has been seeded third and will open against talented Malaysian pair Zulfaiz Bin Zulkiffli and Zulhelmi Zulkiffli.

K. Dilshad and Tarun Kona are the other Indian pair in the category and they will take on local boys Vladimir Rusin and Iiya Zdanov in Round 1.

Women's doubles fourth seeds Pradnya Gadre and N. Sikki Reddy have been given a bye and are automatically through to the Round of 16.

Tarun and Sikki will join hands in mixed doubles and take on another local combine Anatoliy Yartsev and Evgeniya Kosetskaya while Akshay Dewalkar and Prajakta Sawant will be up against Russians Rodion Kargaev and Ekaterina Bolotova.

Dinesh Chaudhry and Lalita Dahiya will be the other Indian pair in the section and will face Russians Mikhail Nesterenko and Daria Radchenko in the first round.